BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND. THE GIFT OF Henrs W. Sage 1891 ht^%'^'s>n. • mTujj^ ,<.'; '«• V J)ate Due -•v.- . V. *.^ - ■ ';•:;*•• APR^ im\i ' sV'.r-^ * ^ ^ M- g % DcCJJ &T I 3910 This day, pp. 328, in 8to, price 6s. 6d., by post 78., NEW DICTIONARY OP COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH. SLANG DICTIONARY; OB, The Vulgar Words, Street Phrases, and " Past " Expressions of High and Low Society ; Many wWi their Etymology, and a few with their History traced. WITH CURIOUS ILLUSTRATIONS. Wedge and Wooden Sjpoon, See p. 272. ^vi^i Egyptian BieroglypMc Verb, to he drunk, showing the am- tmtationofaina/n'&lea. See under Bbeakt Leg (viz. Strong DrinJc) in the Diction' m-y, p. 81. See Two CPOH Ten, in the Dictionofiy, p. 264 ®" One hundred and forty newspapers in this country alone have re- viewed with approbation this Dictionary of Colloquial English. The Times devoted three columns to explain its merits, and the little John o' Groans Journal gave its modest paragraph in eulogy. " It may be doubted if there exists a more amusing volume in the Enghsh language." — Spectator. " Valuable as a work of reference." — Saturday Beview. " All classes of society wUl find amusement and instruction in its pages." — Times. LiTBBART Slang. Reuoious Slang. Fashionable Slano. MiLETABT Slang. City Slang. Spobiing Slang. tTNiTERsiTT Slang. Dandt Slang. Legal Slang. Theatrical Slang. Shopkeepers' Slang. Street Slang. j This day, choicely printed, pp. 600, price 7a. 6d., HISTORY OF PLAYING CARDS, i.SD THE VARIOUS GAMES CONNECTED WITH THEM; With Some Account of Card Conjuring, oijr)-F-A.si3:ioi>rEi3 Tmaiss- 8PECIMEN ILLUSTRATION OF THE SIXTY CURIOUS ENGRAVINGS. WITH ANECDOTES OF Skill and Sleight of Hand. Gambling and Calculation. Cartomancy and Cheating. Old Games and Gaming Houses. Card Eevels and Blind Hookey. Picquet and Vingt-et-un. Whist and Cribbage. Old-Fashioued Tricks. JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, 74 & 75 PICCADILLY, W. Cornell University Library GT3910 .S32 1866 History of signboards : from the earlies olln 3 1924 029 896 556 A Man Loaded ^lih. Mischief, or Matrimony. THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS, From the Earliest Times to the Present Day. BY JACOB LARWOOD, AND JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN. WITH ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS IN FACSIMILE BY y. LARWOOD. " He would uaine you all the ttigus as he went along." BKN JONBOM'S BAKTHOLOUKW FAllt " Oppida. diun peragras peragrando poeuiata spoctes." SRUKKEN' BARSA.BV6 TRAVKI.S Cock and Bottle. riURD EDITION. LONDON: JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADH.LY. 1866. . \All rights reserved.^ l\^%^'=[^ "bn To Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., the Accemplished Interpreter of English Popular Antiquities, this 3EittU Uoluttte is UttitcatJli by THE AUTHORS. PEEFACE. The field of history is a wide one, and when the beaten tracts have been well traversed, there will yet remain some of the lesser paths to explore. The following attempt at a " History of Signboards " may be deemed the result of an exploration in one of these by-ways. Although from the days of Addison's Spectator down to the present time many short articles have been written upon house-signs, nothing hke a general inquiry into the subject has, as yet, been published in this country. The extraordinary number of examples and the numerous absurd combinations afforded such a mass of entangled material as doubtless deterred writers from proceeding beyond an occasional article in a maga-- zine, or a chapter in a book, — when only the more famous signs would be cited as instances of popular humour or local renown. How best to classify and treat the thousands of single and double signs was the chief dififtculty in compiling the present work. That it will in every respect satisfy the reader is more than is expected — indeed much more than could be ' hoped for under the best of circumstances. In these modern days, the signboard is a very unimportant object : it was not always so. At a time when but few persons could read and write, house-signs were indispensable in city life. As education spread they were less needed ; and when in the last century, the system of numbering houses was introduced, and every thoroughfare had its name painted at the begin- ning and end, they were no longer a positive necessity — their original value was gone, and they lingered on, not by reason of their usefulness, but as instances of the decorative humour of our ancestors, or as advertisements of established reputation and business success. For the names of many of our streets we are indebted to the sign of the old inn or public-house, which frequently was the first building in the street — commonly enough suggest- ing its erection, or at least a few houses by way of commencement. The huge " London Directory " contains the names of hundreds of streets in the metropolis which derived their titles from taverns or public-houses in the immediate neighbourhood. As material for the etymology of the names of persons and places, the various old signs may be studied with advantage. In many other ways the historic importance of house-signs oould be shown. Something like a classification of our subject was found absolutely neces- VI PREFACE. sary at the outset, although from the indefinite nature of many signs the divisions " Historic," " Heraldic," " Animal," &o. — under which the Tarious examples have been arranged — must be regarded as purely arbitrary,'for in many instances it would be impossible to say whether such and such a sign should be included under the one head or under the other. The explanations offered as to origin and meaning are based rather upon con-_ jeoture and speculation than upon fact — as only in very rare instances reliable data could be produced to bear them out. Compound signs but increase the difficulty of explanation : if the road was uncertain before, almost all traces of a pathway are destroyed here. When, therefore, a solu- tion is offered, it must be considered only ,as a suggestion of the possible meaning. As a rule, and unless the symbols be very obvious, the reader would do well to consider the majority of compound signs as quarterings or combinations of others, without any hidden signification. A double signboard has its parallel in commerce, where for a common advantage, two merchants will unite their interests under a double name ; but as in the one case so in the other, no rule besides the immediate interests of those concerned can be laid down for such combinations. A great many sigiis, both single and compound, have been omitted. To have included all, together with such particulars of their history as could be obtained, would have required at least half-a-dozen folio volumes. However, but few signs of any importance are known to have been omitted, and care has been taken to give fair samples of the numerous varieties of the compound sign. As the work progressed a large quantity of material accumulated for which no space could be found, such as " A proposal to the House of Commons for raising above half a million of money per annum, viith a great ease to the subject, by a tax upon signs, London, 1695," a very ciu:ious tract ; a political jeu-cSesprit from the Harleian MSS., (5953,) en- titled " The Civill Warres of the Citie," a lengthy document prepared for a journal in the reign of William of Orange by one " E. I.," and giving the names and whereabouts of the principal London signs at that time. Acts of Parliament for the removal or limitation of signs ; and various religious pamphlets upon the subject, such' as " Helps for Spiritual Medi- tation, earnestly Recommended to the Perusal of all- those who desire to have their Hearts much with God," a chap-book of the time of Wesley and Whitfield, (in which the existing "Signs of London are Spiritualized, with an Intent, that when a person walks along the Street, instead of hav- ing their Mind fiU'd with Vanity, and their Thoughts amus'd with the tr&ing Things that continually present themselves, they may be able to Think of something Profitable." Anecdotes and historical facts hav4 been introduced with a double view ; first, as authentic proofs of the existence and age of the sign ; secondly, in the hope that they may afford variety and entertainment. They will call up many a picture of the olden time ; many a trait of bygone manners and customs — old shops and residents, old modes of transapting business, in short, much that is now extinct and obsolete. There is a peculiar pleasure in pondering over these old houses, and picturing them to ourselves as again inhabited by the busy tenants of former years ; in meeting the great names of history in the hours of relaxation, in calling up the scenes which must have been often witnessed in the haunt of the pleasure-seeker, ^th« tavern with its noisy company, the coffee-house with its politicians and PREFACE. vii Bmart beaux ; and, on the other hand, the qtiiet, unpretending shop of the ancient bookseller filled with the monuments of departed minds. Such scraps of history may help to picture this old London as it appeared dur- ing the last three centuries. For the contemplative mind there is some charm eyeu in getting at the names and occupations of the former inmates of the houses now only remembered by their signs ; in tracing, by means of these house decorations, their modes of thought or their ideas of humour, and in rescuing from oblivion a few little anecdotes and minor facts of history connected with the house before which those signs swung in the air. It is a pity that such a task as the following was not undertaken many years ago ; it would have been much better accomplished then, than now. London is so rapidly changing its aspect, that ten years hence many of the particulars here gathered could no longer be collected. Already, dur- ing the printing of this wcxrk, three old houses famous for their signs have been doomed to destruction — the Mitre in Fleet Street, the Tabard in Southwark, (where Chaucer's pilgrims lay,) and Don Saltero's house in Cheyue Walk, Chelsea. The best existing specimens of old (sguboards may be seen in our cathedral towns. Antiquaries cUng to these places, and the inhabitants themselves are generally animated by a strong conservative feel- ing. In London an entire street might be removed with far less of public discussion than would attend the taHng down of an old decayed sign in one of these provincial cities. Xloes the reader remember an article in Punch, about two years ago, entitled " Asses in Canterbury ?" ' It was in ridicule of the Canterbury Commissioners of Pavement, who had held grave dehbera- tions on the well-known sign of Sir John Falstaff, hanging from the front of the hotel of that name, — a house which has been open for public enter- tainment these three hundred years. The knight with sword and buckler (from " Henry the Fourth,") was suspended from some ornamental iron- work, far above the pavement, in the open thoroughfare leading to the famous Westgate, and formed one of the most noticeable objects in this part of Canterbury. In 1787, when the general order was issued for the removal of all the signs in the city — many of them obstructed the thor- oughfares — this was looked upon with so much veneration that it was allowed to remain until 1863, when for no apparent reason it was sen- tenced to destruction. However, it was only with the greatest difficulty that men could be found to pull it down, and then several cans of beer had' first to be distributed amongst them as an incentive to action — in so great veneration was the old sign held even by the lower orders of the place. Eight pounds were paid for this destruction, which, for fear of a riot, was effected at three in the morning, "amid the groans and hisses of the assembled multitude," says a local paper. Previous to the demolition the greatest excitement had existed in the place ; the newspapers were filled with articles; a petition with 400 signatures — including an M.P., the pre- bends, minor canons, and clergy of the cathedral — prayed the local "com- missioners " that the sign might be spared ; and the whole community was in an uproar. No sooner was the old portrait of Sir John removed than another was put up ; but this representing the knight as seated, and with a can of ale by his side, however much it may suit the modem publican's notion of military ardour, does not please the owner of the property, and a fae-smUe of the time-honoured original is in course of preparation. vm PRBFACE. Concerning the internal arrangement of the following work, a few ex- planations seem necessary. Where a street is mentioned without the town being specified, it in all cases refers to a London thoroughfare. The trades tokens so frequently referred to, it will be scarcely neoes sary to state, were the brass farthings issued by shop or tavern keepers, and generally adorned with a representation of the sign of the house. -Nearly all the tokens alluded to belong to the latter part of the seventeenth century, mostly to the reign of Charles II. As the work has been two years in the press, the passing events mentioned in the earlier sheets refer to the year 1864. In a few instances it was found impossible to ascertain whether certain signs spoken of as existing really Ao exist, or whether those mentioned as things of the past are in reality so. The wide distances at which they are situated prevented personal examination in every case, and local his- tories fail to give such small particulars. The rude unattractive woodcuts inserted in the work are in most instances facsimiles, which have been chosen as genuine examples of the style in which the various old signs were represented. The blame of the coarse and primitive execution, therefore, rests entirely witii the ancient artist, whether sign painter or engraver. Translations of the various quotations from foreign languages have been added for the following reasons ; — It was necessary to translate the nume- rous quotations from the Dutch signboards ; Latin was Englished for the benefit of the ladies, and Italian and French extracts were Anglicised to correspond with rest. Errors, both of fact and -opinion, may doubtless be discovered in the book. If, however, the compilers have erred in a statement or an explana- tion, they do not wish to remain in the dark, and any light thrown upon a doubtful passage wUl be aclsDowledged by them with thanks. Numerous local signs — famous in their own neighbourhood — will have been omitted, (generally, however, for the reasons mentioned on a preceding page,) whilst many curious anecdotes and particulars concerning their history may be within the knowledge of provincial readers. For any information of this kind the compilers will be much obliged ; and should their work ever pass to a second edition, they hope to avail themselves of such friendly oontri. butions. London, June 1868, CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. , OENIRAI, SURVEY OF SIGMBOAliD HISTORY, , » , . 1 CHAPTER II. HTSTORIO AKD COMUEMORAIIVE SIGHS, ... ... 45 CHAPTER III. HERAXmC AND KMBLEMATIC SISNS, , .- . . .101 CHAPTER IV. SIGNS 01' ANIMALS AND MONSTERS, . . . . .150 CHAPTER V. BIRDS AND FOWLS, ....... 199 CHAPTER TI. PISHES AND INSECTS, ...... 225 CHAPTER VII. FLOWERS, TREES, HERBS, ETC., . . . . . 233 CHAPTER VIII. BIBUCAl AND RELIGIOUS SIGNS, ..... 253 CHAPTER IX. SAINTS, MARTYRS, ETC., . • . • • .279 X CONTENTS. * ■ > FASB ' CHAPTER X. DIGNITIES, TEADE3, AND PKOEESSIONS, . . . • ^"^ CHAPTER XI. THE b;ousb and the table, ...... S73 CHAPTER XII. DRESS ; PLAIN AHD OBNAMENTAL, CHAPTER XIII. GEOQBAPHT AND TOPOGRAPHY, 399 41 4 CHAPTER XIV. HUMOROUS AND COMIO, ...... 437 CHAPTER XV. PUNS AND REBUSES, . . . . . . . 469 CHAPTER XVI. MISCELLANEOUS SIGNS, ,.....' 476 APPENDIX. BONNELL Thornton's signboard exhibition, . . .512 INDEX op all the signs mentioned in the work, . . 527 PLATE I. BAKER. .Pompeii, a.d. 70.) DAIRY. {Pompeii, A.D. 70.) SHOE.irAIiER. (Herculiilieiiii].) WINE MERCHANT. (Pompeii, A.u. 70.) TWO JOLLY BREWERS. (Bfinlia'a Bills, 1770.) CHAPTER I. GENERAL SUEVET OF SIGNBOARD HISTORY. N the cities of the East aU trades are confined, to certain streets, or to certain rows in the various bazars and wekalehs. Jewel- lers, sUk-embroiderers, pipe-dealers, tradep:s in drugs, — each of •these classes has its own quarter, where, in little open shops, the merchants sit enthroned upon a kind of low counter, enjoying their pipes and their coffee with the otium, cum dignitate char- acteristic of the Mussulman. The purchaser knows the row to go to ; sees at a glance what each shop contains ; and, if he be an haMtu^, will know the face of each particular shopkeeper, so that, under these circumstances, signboards would be of no use. With the ancient Egyptians it was much the same. As a rule, no picture or description aflGLsed to the shop announced the trade of the owner ; the goods exposed for sale were thought sufficient to attract attention. Occasionally, however, there were inscrip- tions denoting the trade, with the emblem which indicated it ;* whence we may assume that this ancient nation was the first to appreciate the benefit that might be derived from signboards. What we know of the Greek signs is very meagre and indefi- nite. Aristophanes, Lucian, and other writers, make frequent allusions, which seem to prove that signboards were in use with the Greeks. Thus Aristotle says : uami im tuv xa'^tiX/uv ygapo- /u.£»(», fiixgo! /ih I'lai, (painvrai Se 'i^ovris mkaTTi xal /3a^^.+ And Athenseus : h irgor-e^oTg Sijxjj diSaexaXitjv.^ But what their signs were, and whether carved, painted, or the natural object, is en- tirely unknown. With the Romans only we begin to have distinct data. In the Eternal City, sOJie streets, as in our mecjiaeval towns, derived their names from signs. Such, for instance, was the vicus Ursi Pileati, (the street of " The Bear with the Hat on,") in the EsquUiae. The nature of their signs, also, is well known. The Bush, their tavern-sign, gave rise to the proverb, " Vino vendibili suspensa hedera non opus est ;" and hence we derive our sign of the Bush, *Sir Gardiner Wilkinson's Ancient EgTptians, voL iii. p. 158. Also, Bosellini Monumenti dell' Egitto e della Nubia. t Aristotle, Problematum x. 14: "Aswth the things drawn above the shops, which, though they are small, appear to have breadth and depth." t " He hung the well-known sign in the front of his house." 2 THE HISTOnr OF SIGNBOARDS. and our proverb, "Good Wine needs no Bush." An ansa, or handle of a pitcher, was the sign of their post-houses, (stathmoi or allagce,) and hence these establishments were afterwards denomi- nated ansce* That they also had painted signs, or exterior deco- rations which served their purpose, is clearly evident from various authors : — " Quum vioti Mures Mustelarum exercitu (Historia quorum in tabernis pingitur.)"+ Ph^deos, lib. iv. fab. vi. These Koman street pictures were occasionally no mean works of art, as we may learn from a passage in Horace : — " Contento poplite miror Proelia, rubrico picta aut carbone ; velut si Be vera pugnent, feriant vitentque moventes ' Arma viri." + Cicero also is supposed by some scholars to allude to a sign when he says : — "Jam ostendamcujus modi sis : quum ille ' ostende quseso' demonatravi digito pictum Galium in Mariano Bouto Cimbrioo, sub Novis, distortum ejecta Ungu4, biioois fluentibxis, risus est commotu3."§ Pliny, after saying that Lucius Mummius was the first in Rome who affixed a picture to the outside of a house, continues :^— " Delude video et in f oro poeitas vulgo. Hino enim Crassi oratoris lepos, [here follows tbe aaecdote of the Cock of Marius the Cimberian] ... In foro fuit et Ola pastoria senis cum baeulo, de qua Teutonorum legatus re- spondit, interrogatus quanti eum seatimaret, sibi donarl nolle talem vivum verumque." || Tabius also, according to some, relates the story of the cock, and his explailation is cited : — "Tabema autem erant circa Forum, ac scutum illud signi gratia positum."ir But we can judge even better from an inspection of the Roman * Heame, Antiq. Disc, i. 39. t "When the mice were conciuered by the army of the weasels, (a story which we see painted on the taverns.)" X Lib. ii. sat. vii. : "I admire the position of the men that are. fighting, painted in red or in blacli, as if they were really aJive ; striking and avoiding each other's weapons, as if they were actually moving." i De Oratore, lib. ii. oh. 71 : "Now I shall shew you how you are, to which he answered, *1>0, please.' Then I pointed with my finger towards the Cock painted on the signboard of Marius the Cimberian, on the New Forum, distorted, with his tongue out aild hanging cheeks. Everybody began to laugh." II Hist. Nat., XXXV. ch. 8 : "After this I find that they were also commonly placed on the Forum. Hence that joke of Crassus, the orator. ... On the Forum was also that of an old shepherd with a staf^ concerning which a German legate, being asked at how much he valued it, answered that he would not care to have such a man given to him as a present, even if he were real and alive." ^ " There were, namely, taverns round about the Forum, and that picture [the Cock} had been put up as a sign." ANCIENT SIGNS AT POMPEII. 3 sighs themselves, as they have come down to us amongst the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii A few were painted ; but, as a rule, they appear to have been made of stone, or terra-cotta relievo, and let into the pilasters at the side of the open shop- fronts. Thus there have been found a goat, the sign of a dairy ; a mule driving a mill, the sign of a baker, (plate, 1.) At the door of a schoolmaster was the not very tempting sign of a boy re- ceiving a good birching. Very similar to our Two Jolly Brewers, carrying a tun slung on a long pole, a Pompeian pubKc-house keeper had two slaves represented above his door, carrying an am- phora; and another wine-merchant had a painting of Bacchus pressing a bunch of grapes. At a perfumer's shop, in the street of Mercury, were represented various items of that profession — viz.;, four men carrying a box with vases of perfume, men occupied in laying out and perfuming a corpse, &c. There was also a sign similar to the one mentioned by Horace, the Two Gladiators, under which, in the usual Pompeian cacography, was the follow- ing imprecation : — Abiat Venekem Pompeiianama ikadam qth HOC LiESEEir, i.e., Ealeat Venerem Pompeianam iratam, &c. Besides these there were the signs of the Anchor, the Ship, (perhaps a ship-chandlei's,) a sort of a Cross, the Chequers, the Phallus on a baker's shop, with the words, Hic habitat felicitas ; whilst in Hercidaneum there was a very cleverly painted Amorino, or Capid, carrying a pair of ladies' shoes, one on his head and the other in his hand. It is also probable that, at a later period at all events, the va- rious artificers of Eome had their tools as the sign of their house, to indicate their profession. We find that they sculptured them on their tombs in the catacombs, and may safely conclude that they would do the same on their houses in the land of the living. Thus on the tomb of Dipgenes, the grave-digger, there is a pick- axe and a lamp ; Bauto and Maxima have the tools of carpenters, a saw, an adze, and a chisel ; Veneria, a tire- woman, has a mirror and a comb : — then there are others who have wool-combers' im- plements ; a physician, who has a cupping-glass ; a poulterer, a case of poultry ; a surveyor, a measuring rule ; a baker, a bushel, a miUstone, and ears of corn ; in fact, almost every trade had its symbolic implements. Even that cockney custom of punning on the name, so common on signboards, finds its precedent in those mansions of the dead. Owing to this fancy, the grave of Dracon- tius bore a dragon j Onager, a wild ass; Umbricius, a shady 4 THE HISTORY OF SIGNB0ABD8. tree ; Leo, a lion ; Doleus, father and son, two casks ; Herbacia, two baskets of herbs ; and Porcula, a pig. Now it seems most probable that, since these emblems were used to indicate where a baker, a carpenter, or a tire-woman was buried, they would adopt similar symbols above ground, to acquaint the public where a baker, a carpenter, or a tire-woman lived. We may thus conclude that our forefathers adopted the sign- board from the Eomans ; and though at first there were certainly not so many shops as to require a picture for distinction, — as the open shop-front did not necessitate any emblem to indicate the trade carried on within, — ^yet the inns by the road-side, and in the towns, would undoubtedly have them. There was the Eoman bush of evergreens to indicate the sale of wine ;* and certain de- vices would doubtless be adopted to attract the attention of the different classes of wayfarers, as the Cross for the Christian cus- tomer,t and the Sun or the Moon for the pagan. Then we find various emblems, or standards, to court respectively the custom of the Saxon, the Dane, or the Briton. He that desired the pa- tronage of soldiers might put up some weapon ; or, if he sought his customers among the more quiet artificers, there were the various implements of trade with which he could appeal to the different mechanics that frequented his neighbourhood. Along with these very simple signs, at a later period, coats of arms, crests, and badges, would gradually make their appearance at the doors of shops and inns. The reasons which dictated the choice of such subjects were various. One of the principal was this. In the Middle Ages, the houses of the nobility, both in town and country, when the family was absent, were used as hos- telries for travellers. The family arms always hung in front of the house, and the most conspicuous object in those arms gave a name to the establishment amongsfj travellers, who, unacquainted with the mysteries of heraldry, called a lion gules or azure by the vernacular name of the Red or Bltie Lion.% Such coats of arms gradually became a very popular intimation that there was — * The Bush certainly must be counted amongst the most ancient and popular of signs. Traces of its use are not only found among Roman and other old-world remains, butduring the Middle Ages we have evidence of its display. Indications of it are to be seen in the Bayeux tapestry, in that part where a house is set on fire, with the inscription. Sic domus incenditur, next to which appears a large building, from which projects something very like a pole and a bush, both at the front and the back of the building. t In Csedmon's Metrical Paraphrase of Scripture History, {circa A.D. 1000,) in the drawings relating to the history of Abraham, there are distinctly represented certain cruciform ornaments painted on the walls, which might serve thepui'pose of signs. (Set upon this subject under "Bbliqious Signs.") t The palace of St Laurence Poultenef, the town residence of Charles BrandoDi SYMBOLS OF TRADES. 5 " Good entertainment for all that passes, — Horses, mares, men, and asses;" and innkeepers began to adopt them, hanging out red lions and green dragons as the best way to acquaint the public that they offered food and shelter. Still, as long as civilisation was only at a low ebb, tjie so-called open-houses few, and competition trifling, signs were of but little use. A few objects, typical of the trade carried on, would suffice ; a knife for the cutler, a stocking for the hosier, a hand for the glover, a pair of scissors for the tailor, a bunch of grapes for the vintner, fuUy answered pubKc requirements. But as luxury in- creased, and the number of houses or shops deaHng in the same article multiplied, something more was wanted. Particular trades continued to be confined to particular streets ; the desideratum then was, to give to each shop a name or token by which it might be mentioned in conversation, so that it could be recommended and customers sent to it. Heading was still a scarce acquirement ; consequently, to write up the owner's name would have been of little use. Those that could, advertised their name by a rebus; thus, a hare and a bottle stood for Harebottle, and two cocks for Cox. Others, whose names no rebus could represent, adopted pictorial objects; and, as the quantity of these augmented, new subjects were continually required. The animal kingdom was ransacked, from the mighty elephant to the humble bee, from the eagle to the sparrow; the' vegetable kingdom, from the palm-tree and cedar to the marigold and daisy ; everything on the earth, and in the firmament above it, was put under contribution. Por- traits of the great men of all ages, and views of towns, both painted with a great deal more of fancy than of truth ; articles of dress, implements of trades, domestic utensils, things visible and invisible, ea qucB sunt tamquam ea qucB non sunt, everything was attempted in order to attract attention and to obtain publicity. Finally, as aU signs in a town were painted by the same small number of individuals, whose talents and imagination were limited, Duke of Suffolk, and also of the IDukes of Buckingham, was called the Rose, from that badge being hung up ia front of the house : — " The Duke being at the Rose, within the parish Of St Laurence Poultney." — Senry VIII., a. i. s. 2. " A house in the town of Lewes was formerly known as The Threk Pelicans, the fact of those birds constituting the arms of Pelham having been lost sight of. Another is still called Thb Cats," which is nothing jnore than " the arms of the Dorset family, whose supporters are two leopards argent, spotted sable." — Lower, Curiosities of Her- aldry. 6 THE HISTOBY OF SIGNBOARDS. it followed that the same subjects were naturally often repeated, introducing only a change in the colour for a difference. Since all the pictorial representations were, then, of much the same quality, rival tradesmen tried to outvie each other in the size of their signs, each one striving to obtrude his picture into public notice by putting it out further iq the street than his neighbour's. The " Liber Albus," compiled in 1419, names this subject amongst the Inquisitions at the Wardmotes : " Item, if the ale-stake of any tavern is longer or extends further than ordi- nary." And in book iii. part iii. p. 389, is said : — " Also, it was ordained that, whereas the ale-stakes projecting 'in front of taverns in Chepe, and elsewhere in the said city, extend too far over the King's highways, to the impeding of riders and others, and, by reason^ of their excessive weight, to the great deterioration of the houses in which they are fixed ; — to the end that opportune remedy might be made thereof, it was by the Mayor and Aldermen granted and ordained, and, upon sum- mons of all the tavemers of the said city, it was enjoined upon them, under pain of paying forty pence * unto the Chamber of the Guildhall, on every oooasiou upon which they should transgress such ordinance, that no one of them in future should have a stake, bearing either his sign, or leaves, ex- tending or lying over the King's highway, of greater length than seven feet at most, and that this ordinance'should begin to take effect at the Feast ol Saint Michael, then next ensuing, always thereafter to be valid and of full effect." The booksellers generally had a woodcut of their signs for the colophon of their books, so that their shops might get known by the inspection of these cuts. For this reason, Benedict Hector, one of the early Bolognese printers, gives this advice to the buyers in his " Justinus et Florus :" — " Emptor, attende quando vis emere libros formates in offioina mea ex- cussoria, inspice siguum quod in liminari pagina est, ita numquam falleris. Nam quidam malevoli Impressores libris suis inemendatis et maoulosia apponunt nomeu'meum ut fiant vendibiliores.""!' Jodocus Badius of Paris, gives a similar caution : — " Oratum facimus lectorem ut signum inspiciat, nam sunt qui titulum nomenque Badianum mentiantur et laborem suffurentur."J Aldus, the great Venetian printer, exposes a similar fraud, and points out how the pirate had copied the sign also in his colc^- phon ; but, by inadvertency, making a slight alteration : — * Bather a heavy fine, as the best ale at that time was not to be sold for more than three-halfpence a gallon. t " Purchaser, be aware when you wish to buy books issued from my printing-office. Look at my sign, which is represented on the title-page, and you can never be mistaken! For some evil-disposed printers have af&xed my name to their uncorrected and faulty works, in order to secure a better sale for them." t " We beg the reader to notice the sign, for there are men who have adopted the sams title, and the name of Badius, and so filch om* labour," ORNAMENTAL lEONWOBK. -j " Extremum est ut admoneamtis studiosissimum quemque, Plorentinos quosdam impressores, cum videriut se diligentiam nostram iu castigando et imprimendo non posse assequi, ad artes couCugisse solitas ; hoc est Gram- maticis Institutionibus Aldi in sua offioina formatis, notam Delphini Anchorse Involuti nostram apposuisse ; sed ita egerunt ut quivis mediooriter versatua in libris impressionis nostrse animadvertit illos impudenter feoisse. Kam rostrum Delphini in partem sinistram vergit, cum tamen nostrum in dexteram totum demittatur." * No wonder, then, that a sign was considered an heirloom, and descended from father to son, like the coat of arms of the nobility, which was the case with the Brazen Serpent, the sign of Eejoiold Wolfe. " His trade was continued a good while after his demise by his wife Joan, who made her wiU the 1st of July 1574, whereby she desires to be buried near her husband, in St Faith's Church, and bequeathed to her son, Eobert Wolfe, the chapel- house, [their printing-office,] the Brazen Serpent, and aU the prints, letters, furniture," &c. — Dibdin's Typ. Ant, vol. iv. p. 6. As we observed above, directly signboards were generally adopted, quaintness became one of the desiderata, and costliness another. This last could be obtained by the quality of the picture, but, for two reasons, was not much aimed at — firstly, because good artists were scarce in those days ; and even had they obtained a good picture, the ignorant crowd that daily passed underneath the sign would, in all probability, have thought the harsh and glaring daub a finer production of art than a Holy Virgin by EafaeUe himself. The other reason was the instability of such a work, exposed to sun, wind, rain, frost, and the nightly attacks of revellers and roisters. Greater care, therefore, was bestowed upon the ornamentation of the ironwork by which it was suspended ; and this was perfectly in keeping with the taste sf the times, when even the simplest lock or hinges could not be laimched into the world without ita scrolls and strapwork. The signs then were suspended from an iron bar, fixed either in the waU of the house, or in a post or obelisk standing in front of it ; in both cases the ironwork was shaped and ornamented with that taste so conspicuous in the metal-work of the Kenaissance period, of which many churches, and other buildings of that ♦ " Lastly, I must di"aw the attention of the student to the fact that some Plorentine printers, seeing that they could not equal cur diligence in correcting and printing, have resorted to their usual artifices. To Aldus's Institutiones G-rammaticae, printed in their offices, they have aflfixed our well-known sign of the Dolphin wound round the Anchor. But they have so managed, that any person who is in the least acquainted with the books of our production, cannot fail to observe that this is an impudent fraud. For the head of the Dolphin is turned to the left, whereas that of ours is well known to be turned Co the right." — Preface to Aldus's Livy, 1518. 8 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. period, still bear witness. In provincial towns and Tillages, where there was sufficient room in the streets, the sign was generally suspended from a kind of small triumphal arch, standing out in the road, partly wood, partly iron, and ornamented with all that carving, ^ding, and colouring could bestow upon it, {see descrip- tion of White-Hart Inn at Scole.) Some of the designs of this class of ironwork have come down to us in the works of the old masters, and are indeed exquisite. Painted signs then, suspended in the way ws have just pointed out, were more common than those of any other kind ; yet not a few shops simply suspended at their doors some prominent article in their trade, which custom has outlived the more elegant sign- boards, and may be daily witnessed in our streets, where the iron- monger's frying-pan, or dust-pan, the hardware-dealer's teapot, the grocer's tea-canister, the shoemaker's last or clog, vdth the Golden Boot, and many similar objects, bear witness to this old custom. Lastly, there was in London another class of houses that had a peculiar way of placing their signs — ^viz., the Stews upon the Bank- side, which were, by a proclamation of 37 Hen. VIII., " whited and painted with signs on the front, for a token of the said houses." Stow enumerates some of these symbols, such as the Cross-Keys, the Gun, the Castle, the Crane, the Cardinal's Hat, the Bell, the Swan, &c. StiU greater variety in the construction of the signs existed in France; for besides the painted signs in the iron frames, the shopkeepers in Paris, according to H. .Sauval, (" AntiquitSs de la Ville de Paris,") had anciently banners hanging above their doors, or from their windows, with the sign of the shop painted on them ; whilst in the sixteenth century carved wooden signs were very common. These, however, were not suspended, but formed part of the wooden construction of the house ; some of them were really chefs-d^oeuvres, and as careful in design as a carved cathe- dral staU. Several of them are stiU remaining in Eouen and other old tovms ; many also have been removed and placed in various local museums of antiquities. The most general rule, however, on the Continent, as in England, was to have the painted signboard suspended across the streets. An observer of James I.'s time has jotted down the names of all the inns, taverns, and side streets in the line of road be- tween Charing Cross and the old Tower of London, which docu- ment lies now embalmed amongst the HarL MS., 6850, fol. 31. In imagination we can walk with him through the metropolis : — THJS WATEE-POET'S CATALOGUE OF TAVERNS. 9 " On the way from Whitehall to Charing Cross we pass : the White Hart, the Red Lion, the Mairmade, iij. Tuns, Salutation, the Graihound, the BeU, the Golden Lyon. In sight of Charing Crosse : the Garter, the Crown, the Bear and Eagged Staffe, the Angel, the King Harry Head. Then from Charing Cross towards ye cittie : another White Hart, the Eagle and Child, the Helmet, the Swan, the BeU, King Harry Head, the Flower-de- luce, Angel, the Holy Lambe, the Bear and Harroe, the Plough, the Shippe, the Black BeU, another Eling Harry Head, the Bull Head, the Golden BuU, 'a sixpenny ordinarye,' another Flower-de-luce, the Red Lyon, the Horns, the White Hors, the Prince's Arms, BeU Savadge's In, the S. John the Baptist, the Talbot, the Shipp of War, the S. Dunstan, the Hercules or the Owld Man Tavern, the Mitar, another iij. Tunnes Inn, and a iij. Tunnes Tavern, and a Graihound, another Mitar, another King Harry Head, iij. Tunnes, and the iij. Cranes." Having walked, from Wiitechapel "straight forward to the Tower," the good citizen got tired, and so we hear no more of him. In the next reign we find the following enumerated by Tayloi the water-poet, in one of his facetious pamphlets : — 5 Angels, 4 Anchors, 6 Bells, 5 Bullsheads, 4 Black Bulls, 4r Bears, 5 Bears and Dolphins, 10 Castles, 4 Crosses, (red or white,) 7 Three Crowns, 7 Green Dragons, 6 Dogs, 5 Fountains, 3 Fleeces, 8 Globes, 5 Greyhounds, 9 White Haits, 4 White Horses, 5 Harrows, 20 King's Heads, 7 King's Arms, 1 Queen's Head, 8 Golden Lyons, 6 Eed Lyons, 7 Halfmoons, 10 Mitres, 33 Maidenheads, 10 Mermaids, 2 Mouths, 8 Nagsheads, 8 Prince's Arms, 4 Pope's Heads, 13 Suns, 8 Stars, &c. Besides these he mentions an Adam and Eve, an Antwerp Tavern, a Cat, a Christopher, a Cooper's Hoop, a Goat, a Garter, a Hart's Horn, a Mitre, &c. These were all taverns in London ; and it wiU be observed that their signs were very similar to those seen at the present day — a remark applicable to the taverns not only of England, but of Europe generally, at this period. In another work Taylor gives us the signs of the taverns * and alehouses in ten shires and counties about London, all similar to those we have just enumer- ated ; but amongst the number, it may be noted, there is not one combination of two objects, except the Eagle and Child, and the Bear and Eagged Staff. In a black-letter tract entitled " Newes from Bartholomew Fayre," the following are named : — " There has been great sale and utterance of Wine, Besides Beer, Ale, and Hippocrass fine, In every Country, Region, and Nation, Chiefly at Billingsgate, at the Salutation ; • The number of taverns In Uicse ten shires was '686, or thereabouts" lO THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. And Boreshead near London Stone, , The Swan at Dowgate, a tavern well knowne ; The Mitre in Cheap, and the Bullhead, And many like places that make noses red ; The Boreshead in Old Fish Street, Three Cranes in the Vintree, And now, of late, Saint Martin's in the Sentrea ; The Windmill in Lothbury, the Ship at the Exchange, King's Head in New Fish Street, where Boysters do range ; The Mermaid in Comhill, Red Lion in the Strand, ' Three Tuns in Newgate Market, in Old Fish Street the Swan." Drunken Barnaby, (1634,) in Hs travels, called at several of the London taverns, which he has recorded in his vinous flights : — " Country left I in a fury. To the A^e in Aldermantury First arrived, that place slighted, I at the Rose in Holborn lighted. From the Rose in Flaggous sail I To the Griffin i' th' Old Bailey, Where no sooner do I waken. Than to Three Cranes I am taken. Where I lodge and am no starter. Yea, my merry mates and I, too, Oft the Cardinal's Hat do fly to. There at Hart's Horns we carouse," &o. Already, in very early times, publicans were compelled by law to have a sign; for we find that in the 16 Eichard II., (1393,) Florence North, a brewer of Chelsea, was " presented" " for not putting up the usual sign."* In Cambridge the regulations were equally severe ; by an Act of Parliament, 9 Henry VI., it was enacted: "Quicunq; de villa Cantebrigg'braciaverit ad vendend' exponat signum suum, alioquiu omittat cervisiam." — Rolls of Parliament, vol. v. fol. 426 a.t But with the other trades it was always optional. Hence Charles I., on his accession to the throne, gave the inhabitants of London a charter by which, amongst other favours, he granted them the right to hang out signboards : — "And further, we do give" and grant to the said Mayor, and CommoDalty, and Citizens of the said city, and their successors, that it may and shall be lawful to the Citizens of the same city and any of them, for the time being, to expose and hang in and over the streets, and ways, and alleys of the said city and suburbs of the same, signs, and posts of signs, affixed to their houses and shops, for the better finding out such citizens' dweDings, * " The original court roll of this presentation is still to be found amongst the records of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster." — Lyson's Env. o/ LoTidon, vol. iii. p. 74. t "Wliosoever shall brew ale In the town of Cambridge, with intention of selling ii^ must hang out a sign, otherwise he shall forfeit his ale." SiaNBOARD REGULATIONS IN FRANCE. 1 1 Bhops, arts, or occupations, without impediment, molestation, or interrup- tion of his heirs or successors." In France, the innkeepers were under the same regulations aa in England ; for there also, by the edict of Moulins, in 1567, all innkeepers were ordered to acquaint the magistrates with their name and address, and their " affectes et enseignes;" and Henri III., by an edict of March 1577, ordered that all innkeepers ihould place a sign on the most conspicuous part of their houses, " aux Ueux les plus apparents ; " so that everybody, even those that could not read, should be aware of their profession. Louis XIV., by an ordnance of 1693, again ordered signs to be put up, and also the price of the articles they were entitled to sell : — " Art. S.XIII. — Ta verniers metront enseignes et bouchons. . . . Nul ne pourra tenir taverne en oette dite viUe et faubourgs, sans mettre enseigne et bouohon." * Hence, the taking away of a publican's licence was accompanied by the taking away of his sign : — " For this gross fault I here do damn thy licence. Forbidding thee ever to tap or draw ; For instantly I will in mine own person. Command the constables to pull down thy sign." Massingeb, a New Way to Pay Old Debit, iv. 2. At the time of the great CJivil War, house-signs played no in- considerable part in the changes and convulsions of the state, and took a prominent place in the politics of the day. We may cite an earlier example, where a sign was made a matter of high treason — ^namely, in the case of that unfortunate fellow in Cheap- side, who, in the reign of Edward IV., kept the sign of the Crown, and lost his head for saying he would " make his son heir to the Crown." But more. general examples are to be met with in the history of the Commonwealth troubles. At the death of Charles I., John Taylor the water-poet, a Koyalist to the back- bone, boldly shewed his opinion of that act, by taking as a sign for his alehouse in Phoenix Alley, Long Acre, the Mourning Crown ; but he was soon compelled to take it down. Eichard Flecknoe, in his " .^Enigmatical Characters," (1665,) tells us how many of the severe Puritans were shocked at anything smelling of Popery : — " As for the signs, they have pretty well begun their reformation already, changing the sign of the Salutation of Our Lady into the Souldier and Citizen, and the Catherine Wheel * " Art. XXIII.— Tavernkeepers must put up signboards and a, bush. . . . Nobody shall be allowed to open a tarem in the said city and its subui'bs without baTiog a sigu cvud a bush." 12 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. into the Cat and Wheel ; such, ridiculous work they make of this reformation, and so jealous they are against aU mirth and joUity, as they would pluck down the Cat and Fiddle too, if it durst but play so loud as they might hear it." No doubt they invented very godly signs, but these have not come down to us. At that time, also, a fashion prevailed which continued, indeed, as long as the signboard was an important institution — of using house-signs to typify political ideas. Imaginary signs, as a part of secret imprints, conveying most unmistakably the sentiments of the book, were often used in the old days of political plots and violent lampoons. Instance the following : — " Vox BoKEALis, or a Northeme Discoverie, by Way of Dialogue, between Jamie and Willie. Amidst the Babylonians — printed by Margery Marpre- late, in Thwack Coat Lane, at the sign of the Crab-Tree Cvdgell, without any privilege of the Cateroaps. 1641." " Articles ov Hioh Tkeason made and' enacted by the late Half quarter usurping Convention, and now presented to the publiek view for a general satisfaction of all true Englishmen. Imprinted for Erasmus Thorogood, and to be sold at the signe of the Roasted Riumvp. 1659." , " A Catalogue of Books of the Newest Fashion, to be sold by auction at the Whigs' Coffeehouse, at the sign of the Jaokanapes in Prating Alley, near the Deanery of Saint Paul's." " The Censube oe the Rota upon Mr Milton's book, entitled ' The Beady and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth,' &o. Printed at London by Paul Giddy, Printer to the Kota, at the sign of the WimdmUl, in Turn-again Lane. 1660." " An Address from the Ladies of the Provinces of Munster and Lein- ster to their Graces the Duke and Duchess of D ^t, Lord G , and Caiaphas the High Priest, with sixty original toasts, drank by the Ladies at their last Assembly, with Love-letters addedf London : Printed for John Pro Patria, at the sign of Viwat Rex. 1754." " Chivalry no Trifle, or the Knight and his Lady : a Tale. To which is added the Hue and Cry after Touzer and Spitfire, the Lady's two lap- dogs. Dublin : Printed at the sign of Sir Tady's Press, etc. 1754." " An Address from the Influential Electors of the County and City of Galway, with a Collection of 60 Original Patriot Toasts and 48 Munster Toasts, with Intelligence from the Kingdom of Eutopia. Printed at the sign of the Pirate's Sword in the Captain's Scabbard. London, 1754." " The C t's Apoloqt to the Freeholders of this Kingdom for their conduct, containing some Pieces of Humour, to which is added a Bill of C ^t Morality. London : Printed at the sign of Setty Ireland, d—d of a Tyrant in Purple, a Monster in, Black, etc." In the newspapers of the eighteenth century, we find that signs were constantly used as emblems of, or as sharp hits at, the politics of the day ; thus, in the Weekly Journal for August 17, 1718, allusions are made to the sign of the Salutation, in New- gate Street, by the opposition party, to which the Original siaifs SUNG iir Mousji^iNa. 13 Weekly Journal, tte week after, retaliates by a description and explanation "of an indelicate sign said to be in King Street, West- minster. In 1763, the following pasquinade went the round of the newspapers, said to have been sent over from Holland : — " HOTELS POUB LBS MINISTEES DES OOTJRS BTEAHGEEKS AU FUTUE 00NGEE8S. De I'Empereur, A la Bonne Volont^ ; rue d'lmpuissance. De Russie, Au Chimfere ; rue dea Caprices. De France, Au Coq deplume ; rue de Canada. ^ D'Autriche, A la Mauvaise Alliance, rue des Invalidea. , D'Angleterre, A la Fortune, Place des Victoires, rue des Subsides. De Prusse, Aux Quatre vents, rue des Eenards, pres la Place des Guin&a. De Suede, Au Passage des Courtisana, rue des Viaionaires. De Pologne, Au Sacrifice d' Abraham, rue des Innocents, prea la Place des Devota. Dea Princes de I'Empire, Au Eoiteldt, pres de I'HSpital des Incurables, rue dea Charlatana. De Wirtemberg, Au Don Quichotte, rue dea Fantomes prea de la Montague en Couche. D'Hollande, A. la Baleine, sur le Marche aux Fromagea, pres du Grand Observatoire." On the morning of September 28, 1736, all the tavern-signs in London were in deep mourning; and no wonder, their dearly beloved patron and friend Gin was defunct, — killed by the new Act against spirituous liquors ! But they soon dropped their mourn- ing, for Gin had only been in a lethargic fit, and woke up much refreshed by his sleep. Fifteen years after, when Hogarth painted his " Gin Lane," royal gin was to be had cheap enough, if we may believe the signboard in that picture, which informs us that "gentlemen and others" could get "drunk for a penny," and " dead drunk for twopence," in which last emergency, " clean straw for nothing " was provided. Of the signs which were to be seen in London at the period of the Eestoration, — to return to the subject we were originally con- sidering, — we find a goodly collection of them in one of the " Eoxburghe Ballads," (vol. i. 212,) entitled :— " i.ondon's oedinaeie, oe bveet man in his humoub. THROUGH the Royal Exchange as I walked, Wher& Gallants in sattin doe shine. 14 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. At midst of the day, they parted away, To seaverall places to dine. The Geutrie went to the King's Head, The Nobles unto the Crowne : The Knights went to the Golden Fleece, And the Ploughmen to the Clowne. The Cleargie will dine at the Miter, The Vintners at the Three Tunnes, ■ The Usurers to the Devill will goe. And the Fryers to the Nrnines. The Ladyes will dine at the Feathers, The Globe no Captaine will soome, The Huntsmen will goe to the Grayhound below, And some Townes-men to the Home. The Plummers will dine at the Fountavne, The Gookes at the Holly Lambe, The Drunkerds by noone, to the Man in the Moorti, And the Cuokholdes to the Bamme. The Roarers wiU dine at the Lyon, The Watermen at the Old Swan ; And Bawdes will to the Negro goe, , And Whores to the Naked Man. The Keepers will to the White Hart, The Marohants unto the Shippe, The Beggars they must take their way To the Egge-shell and the Whippe. The Farryers will to the Horse, The Blackesmith unto the Locke, The Butchers unto the Bull will goe^ And the Carmen to Bridewell OlocTce. The Fishmongers unto the Dolphin, The Barbers to the Cheat Loafe,* The Turners unto the Ladle will goe, Where they may merrylie quaffe. The Taylors will dine at the^/SAecj-es, The Shooemakers will to the Boote, The Welshmen they will take their way, And dine at the signe of the Qoie. The Hosiers will dine at the Legge, The Drapers at the signe of the Brush, The Fletchers to Robin Hood will goe. And the Spendthrift to Begger's Bash. The Pewterers to the Quarte Pot, The Coopers wiU dine at the Hoope, The Coblers to the Last will goe. And the Bargemen to the Sloope. " A Cheat loaf was a household loaf, wheaten seconds bread."— Naees's Cflossary, THE BALLAD OF THE LONDON OBDINA.UIB. 15 The Carpenters will to the Axe, The Colliers will dine at the Sackt, Tour Fruterer he to the Cherry-Tree, Good fellowes no liquor will lacke. The Goldsmith will to the Three Cups, For money they hold it as drosse ; Tour Puritan to the Pewter Canne, And your Papists to the Crosse. The Weavers will dine at tine Shuttle, The Glovers will unto the Glove, The Maydeiis all to the Mayden Head, And true Louers unto the Done. The Sadlers will dine at the Saddle, The Painters will to the Greene Dragon, The Dutchmen will go to the Froe,* Where each man wOl drinke his Flagon. The Chandlers wiU dine at the Shales, The Salters at the signe of the Bagge ; The Porters take pain at the Labour in Yaine, And the Horse-Courser to the White Nagge. Thus every Man in his humour. That comes from the North or the South, But he that has no money in his purse, May dine at the signe of the Mouth. The Swaggerers will dine at the Fencers, But those that have lost their wits : With Bedlam Tom let that be their home, And the Drumme the Drummers best fits. The Cheter will dine at the Checker, The Picke-pockets in a blind alehouse, Tel on and tride then up Holborne they ride. And they there end at the GaUowes." Thomas Heywood introduced a similar song in his " Eape of Lucrece." This, the first of the kind we have met with, is in all probability the original, unless the ballad be a reprint from an older one ; but the term Puritan used in it, seems to fix its data to the seventeenth century. " rpHE Gintry to the Km^s Head, X The Nobles to the Crown, The Knights unto ^he Golden Fleece, And to the Flouga the Clowne. The Churchmen to the Mitre, The Shepheard to the Star, The Gardener hies him to the Base, To the Drum the Man of War. * Froe — i.t., Vrouw. woman. 1 6 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. The Huntamen to the White Hart, To the Skip the Merchants gee, But you that doe the Muaes love, ' The sign called River Po. The Banquerout to the World's End, The Fool to the Fortune hie, Unto the Mouth the Oyster-wiie, The Fiddler to the Pie. The Punk unto the CocJeatrioe,* The Drunkard to the Vime, The Begger to the Bush, there ^neet. And with Duke Humphrey dine." + After the great fire of 1666, many, of the houses that were re- built, instead of the former wooden signboards projecting in the streets, adopted signs carved in stone, and generally painted or gilt, let into the front of the house, beneath the first floor win- dows. Many of these sigas are still to be seen, and wiU be noticed in their respective places. But in those streets not visited by the fire, things continued on the old footing, each shop- keeper being fired with a noble ambition to project his sign a few inches farther than his neighbour. . The consequence was that, what with the narrow streets, the penthouses, and the signboards, the air and light of the heavens were well-nigh intercepted from the luckless wayfarers through the streets of London. We can picture to ourselves the unfortunate plumed, feathered; silken gal- lant of the period walking, in his low shoes and silk stockings, through the ill-paved dirty streets, on a stormy November day, when the honours 'were equally divided between fog, sleet, snow, and rain, (and no umbrellas, be it remembered,) with flower-pots , blown from the penthouses, spouts sending down shower-baths from almost every house, and the streaming signs swinging over- head on their rusty, creaking hinges. Certainly the evil was great, and demanded that redress which Charles II. gave in the seventh year of his reign, when a new Act " ordered that in all the streets no signboard shall hang across, but that the sign shall be fixed against the balconies, or some convenient part of the side of the house." The Parisians, also, were suffering from the same enormities ; everything was of Brobdignagian proportions. " J'ai vu," says an essayist of the middle of the seventeenth century, " suspendu aux boutiques des volants de sis pieds de hauteur, des perles grosses * This was in those days a slang term for a mistress. t i.e , Walk about in St Paul's during the dinner hour. BUSH. (MS. of the llth century.) NAG S HEAD. {Clieaiwhle, IC^n.) BUSH. (Bftyeiix tapestry, llth cent,) CROSS. (Liittrell PsjUter, Uth century,) BLACK JACK AND I'EWTER PLATTEK- (Print Ijy Suhavelin, USD.] BUSH. (.M.S. uf tJi« istli cent.) J PARISIAN SIGNBOARD ENORMITIES. 1 7 comme des tonneaux, des plumes qui allaient au troisiSme Itage." * There, also, the scalpel of the law was at last applied to the evil ; for, in 1669, a royal order was issued to prohibit these monstrous signs, and the practice of advancing them too far into the streets, " which made the thoroughfares close in the daytime, and pre- vented the lights of the lamps from spreading properly at night." Still, with all their faults, the signs had some advantages for the wayfarer ; even their dissonant creaking, according to the old weather proverb, was not without its use : — " But when the swinging signs your ears offend With creaking noise, then rainy flpods impend." Gat's Trivia, canto i. This indeed, from the various allusions made to it in the literature of the last century, was regarded as a very general hint to the lounger, either to hurry home, or hail a sedan-chair or a coach. Gay, in his didactic — jldneur — poem, points out another benefit to be derived from the signboards : — " If drawn by Bus'ness to a street unknown. Let the sworn Porter point thee through the town ; Be sure observe the Signs, for Signs remain Like faithful Landmarks to the walking Train." Besides, they offered constant matter of thought, speculation, and amusement to the curious observer. Even Dean Swift, and the Lord High Treasurer Harley, " Would try to read the lines Writ underneath the country signs." And certainly these productions of the country muse are often highly amusing. Unfortunately for the compilers of the present work, they have never been collected and preserved ; although they would form a not unimportant and characteristic contribution to our popular literature. Our Dutch neighbours have paid more attention to this subject, and a great number of their signboard inscriptions were, towards the close of the seventeenth century, gathered in a curious little 12mo volume,t to which we shall often , refer. Nay, so much attention was devoted to this branch of literature in that country, that a certain H. van den Berg, in 1693, wrote a little volume,^ which he entitled a "Banquet," giving verses adapted for all manner of shops and signboards ; * " I have seen, hanging from the shops, shuttlecocks six feet high, pearls as large as a hogshead, and feathers reaching up to the third utory." , t "Eoddige en ernstige opschriften op Luiffels, wagens, glazen, uithangborden en andere tafereelen door Jeroen Jeroense. Amsterdam. 1682." t "Het gestoffeerde Winkelen en Luifeleu Banquet. H. van den Berg. Amster- dam, 1693." B 1 8 THE HISTOS r OF SIGNBOARDS. BO ttat a shopkeeper at a loss for an inscription had only to open the book and make his selection ; for there were rhymes in it both serious and jocular, suitable to everybody's taste. The majority of the Dutch signboard inscriptions of that day seem to have been eminently characteristic of the spirit of the nation. No such inscriptions could be brought before "a discerning public," without the patronage of some holy man mentioned in the Scriptures, whose name was to stand there for no other pur- pose than to give the Dutch poet an opportunity of making a. jingling rhyme ; thus, for instance, — " Jacob was David's neef maar 't wareu geen Zwagers. Hier slypt men allerhande Barbiers gereedschappen, ook voor visohwyven en slagers."* Or another example : — " Men visohte Moses uit de Biezen, Hier trekt men tanden en Kiezen."t In the beginning of the eighteenth century, we find the- following signs named, which puzzled a person of an inquisitive turn of mind, who wrote to the British Apollo, % (the meagre Notes and Queries of those days,) in the hope of eliciting an ex- planation of their quaint combination : — " I 'm amazed at the Signs As I pass through the Town, To see the odd mixture : A Magpie and Crown, The Whale and the Crow, The Bazor and Hen, The Leg and Seven Stars, The Axe and the Bottle, The Tun and the Lute, The Eagle and Child, The Shovel and Boot." All these signs are also named by Tom Brown ; § — " The first amusements we encountered were the variety and contradictory language of the signs, enough to persuade a man there were no rules of concord among the citizens. Here we saw Joseph's Dream, the BuU and Mouth, the Whale and Crow, the Shovel and Boot, the Leg and Star, the Bible and Swan, the Frying-pan and Drum, * " Jacob was David's nephew, but not his brother-in-law. All sorts of barbers' tools, gi'ound here, also fishwives' and butchers' knives. " t " Moses was pick'd up among the rushes. Teeth and grinders drawn here.'* { The Briliih Apollo, 1710, vol, iii. p, 34, { Amusements for the Meridian of London, 1708, p, 12. THE OLD COMBINATIONS OF SIGNS. 19 the Lute and Tun, the Hog in Armour, and a thousand others that the wise men that put them there can give no reason for." From this enumeration, we see that a century had worked great changes in the signs. Those of the beginning of the seventeenth century were all simple, and had no combinations. But now we meet very heterogeneous objects joined together. Various reasons can be found to account for this. First, it must be borne in mind that most of the London signs had no inscrip- tion to tell the public " this is a lion," or, " this is a bear ;" hence the vulgar could easily make mistakes, and caU an object by a wrong name, which might give rise to an-absurd combination, as in the case of the Leg and Star; which, perhaps, was nothing else but the two insignia of the order of the Garter ; the garter being represented in its natural place, on the leg, and the star of the order beside it. Secondly, the name might be corrupted through faulty pronunciation ; and when the sign was to be repainted, or imitated in another street, those objects would be represented by which it was best known. Thus the Shovel and Boot might have been a corruption of the Shovel and Boat, since the Shovel and Ship is stiU a very common sign in places where grain is carried by canal boats ; whilst the Bull and Mouth is said to be a corruption of the Boulogne Mouth — .the Mouth of Boulogne Harbour. Finally, whimsical shopkeepers would frequently aim at the most odd combination they could imagine, for no other reason but to attract attention. Taking these premises into consideration, some of the signs which so puzzled Tom Brown might be easily accounted for ; the Axe and Bottle, in this way, might have been a corruption of the Battle-axe. The Bible and Swan, a sign in honour of Luther, who is generally represented by the symbol of a swan, a figure of which many . Lutheran Churches have on their steeple instead of a weather- cock ; whilst the Lute and Tun was clearly a pun on the name of Luton, similar to the Bolt and Tun of Prior Bolton, who adopted this device as his rebus. Other causes of combinations, and many very amusing and instructive remarks about signs, are given in the following from the Spectator, No. 28, April 2, 1710 :— " There is nothing like sound literature and good sense to be met with in those objects, that are everjrwhere thrusting them- selves out to the eye and endeavouring to become visible. Our streets are filled with blue boars, black swans, and red lions, not 20 THE HISTORY OF SIONBOARDS. to mention Jlyinff-pigs and hoffs in armour, with many creatures more extraordinary than aiiy in the deserts of Africa. Strange that one, who has all the birds and beasts in nature to choose out of, should live at the sign of an ens rationis. " My first task, therefore, should be like that of Hercules, to clear the city from monsters. In the second place, I should forbid that creatures of jarring and incongruous natures should be joined together in the same sign ; such as the Bell and the Neat's Tongue, the Dog and the Gridiron. The Fox and the Goose may be supposed to have met, but what has the Fox and the Seven Stars to do together ? And when did the Lamb and Dolphin ever meet except upon a signpost ? As for the Gat and Fiddle, there is a conceit in it, and therefore I do not intend that anything I have here said should affect it. I must, however, observe to you upon this subject, that it is usual for a young tradesman, at his first setting up, to add to his own sign that of the master whom he served, as the husband, after marriage, gives a place to his mistress's arms in his own coat. This I take to have given rise to many of those absurdities which are com- mitted over our heads ; and, as !■ am informed, first occasioned the Three Nuns and a Hare, which we see so frequently joined together. I would therefore establish certain rules for the deterr mining how far one tradesman may give the sign of another, and in what case he may be allowed to quarter it with his own. " In the third place, I would enjoin every shop to make use of a sign which bears some affinity to the wares in which it deals. What can be more inconsistent than to see a bawd at the sign of the Angel, or a tailor at the lAon i A cook should not live at the Boot, nor a shoemaker at the Roasted Pig ; and yet, for want of this regulation, I have seen a Goat set up before the door of a perfumer, and the French King's Head at a sword- cutler's. " An ingenious foreigner observes that several of those gentle- men who value themselves upon their families, and overlook 3uch as are bred to trades, bear the tools of their forefathers in their coats of arms. I will not examine how true this is in fact ; but though it may not be necessary for posterity thus to set up the sign of their forefathers, I think it highly proper that those who actually profess the trade should shew some such mark of it before their doors. " When the name gives an occasion for an ingenious signpost, THE "SPECTATOR" ON SIGNS. 2t I would likewise advise the owner to take that opportunity of let- ting the world know who he is. It would have been ridiculous for the ingenious Mrs Salmon to have lived at the sign of the trout, for which reason she has erected before her house the figure of the fish that is her namesake. Mr Bell has likewise distinguished himself by a device of the same nature. And here, sir, I must beg leave to observe to you, that this particular figure of a Bell has given occasion to several pieces of wit in this head. A man of your reading must know that Abel Drugger gained great applause by it in the time of Ben Jonson. Our Apocryphal heathen god Ls also represented by this figure, which, in conjunc- tion with the Dragon,* makes a very handsome picture in several of our streets. As for the Bell Savage, which is the sign of a savage man standing by a bell, I was formerly very much puzzled upon the conceit of it, till I accidentally fell into the reading of an old romance translated out of the French, which gives an account of a very beautiful woman, who was found in a wilderness, and is called la Belle Sauvage, and is everywhere translated by our countrymen the Bell Savage.f This piece of philology will, I hope, convince you that I have made signposts my study, and consequently qualified myself for the employment which I solicit at your hands. But before I conclude my letter, I must communicate to you another remark which I have made upon the subject with which I am now entertaining you — namely, that I can give a shrewd guess at the humour of the inhabitant by the sign that hangs before his door. A surly, choleric fellow generally makes choice of a Bear, as men of milder dispositions frequently live at the Lamb. Seeing a Punch- howl painted upon a sign near Charing Cross, and very curiously garnished, with a couple of angels hovering over it and squeezing a lemon into it, I had the curiosity to ask after the master of the house, and found upon inquiry, as I had guessed by the little a^i ermns upon his sign, that he was a Frenchman." Another reason for " quartering " signs was on removing from one shop to another, when it was customary to add the sign of the old shop to that of the new one. " "YTTHEREAS Anthony Wilton, who lived at the Green Cross publiok- VV house against the new Turnpike on New Cross Hill, has been removed for two years past to the new boarded house now the sign of the • Bell and the rragon, still to be met on the signboard. I Addison is wrong in this derivation, {set under Miscellaneous Signs, at the end.) 24 THE HISTORY OF 8IGNB0ABD8. in this, too, the publicans are notoriously faulty. The King'8 Arms, and the Star and Garter, are aptly enough placed at the court end of the town, and in the neighbourhood of the royal palace ; Shakespeare's Head takes his station by one playhouse, and Ben Jonson's by the other ; Hell is a public-house adjoining to Westminster Hall, as the Devil Tavern is to the lawyers' quar- ter in the Temple : but what has the Crown to do by the 'Change, or the Gun, the Ship, or the Anchor anywhere but at Tower Hill, at Wapping, or Deptford ? " It was certainly from a noble spirit of doing honour to a supe- rior desert, that our forefathers used to hang out the heads of those who were particularly eminent in their professions. Hence we see Galen and Paracelsus exalted before the shops of chemists; and the great names of Tully, Dryden, and Pope, &c., immortal- ised on the rubric posts* of booksellers, while their heads denom- inate the learned repositors of their works. But I know not whence it happens that publicans have claimed a right to the physiognomies of kings and heroes, as I cannot find out, by the most painful researches, that there is any alliance between them. Lebec, as he was an excellent cook, is the fit representative of luxury ; and Broughton, that renowned athletic champion, has an indisputable right to put up his own head if he pleases ; but what reason can there be why the glorious Duke William should draw porter, or the brave Admiral Vernon retail flip 1 Why must Queen Anne keep a ginshop, and King Charles inform us of a skittle-ground ? Propriety of character, I think, require that these illustrious parsonages should be deposed from their lofty stations, and I would recommend hereafter that the alderman's effigy should accompany his Intire Butt Beer, and that the comely face of that public-spirited patriot who first reduced the price of punch and raised its reputation Pro Bono Publico, should be set up wherever three penn'orth of warm rum is to be sold. " I have been used to consider several signs, for the frequency of which it is difficult to give any other reason, as so many hiero- glyphics, with a hidden meaning, satirising the follies of the people, or conveying instrudtion to the passer-by. I am afraid that the stale jest on our citizens gave rise to so many Horns in public streets ; and the number of Castles floating with the wind * Frdm Martial and other Latin poets, we learn that it was usual for' the bibliopoles of those days to advertise new works by atBxing copies of the title-pages to a post outside their shops ; but whether this method obtained in the last century, the history of Patei^ Doster Bow does not inform us. THE "ADVENTURER" ON SIGNS. 25 ■was probably designed as a ridicule on those erected by soaring projectors. Tumbledown Dick, in the borough of Sonthwark, is a fine moral on the instability of greatness, and the consequences of ambition ; but there is a most ill-natured sarcasm against the fair sex exhibited on a sign in Broad Street, St Giles's, of a head- less female figure called the Good Woman. ' Quale portentum neque militaris Daunia in latis alit esculetis, Kec Jubae tellus generat, leonum Arida Nutrix.' — HoRiOB. * No beast of Bucb portentous size In warlike Daunia's forest lies, Nor such the tawny lion reigns Fierce on his native Afric's plains.' — Feancis. " A discerning eye may also discover in many of our signs evi- dent marks of the religion prevalent amongst us before the Re- formation. St George, as the tutelary saint of this nation, may escape the censure of superstition; but St Dunstan, with his tongs ready to take hold of Satan's nose^ and the legions of Angels, Nuns, Crosses, and Holy Lambs, certainly had their origin in the days of Popery. " Among the many signs which are appropriated to some parti- cular business, and yet have not the least connexion with it, I cannot as yet find any relation between blue balls and pawnbrokers. Nor could I conceive the intent of that long pole putting out at the entrance of a barber's shop, tUl a friend of mine, a learned etymologist and glossariographer, assured me that the use of this, pole took its rise from the corruption of an old English word. ' It is probable,' says he, ' that our primitive tonsors used to stick up a wooden block or head, or poll, as it was called, before their shop windows, to denote their occupation ; and afterwards, through a confounding of different things with a like pronunciar tion, they put up the parti-coloured staff of enormous length, which is now called a pole, and appropriated to barbers.' "* The remarks of the Adventurer have brought us down to the middle of the eighteenth century, when the necessity for signs was not so great as formerly. Education was spreading fast, and reading had become a very general acquirement ; yet it would appear that the exhibitors of signboards wished to make up in extravagance what they had lost in use. " Be it known, however, • For the Three Ball! of the Pawnbrokers, tee under Miicellaneous Signs ; for Iho Barber's Pale, under Trades' Signs. 26 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. to posterity," says a writer in tlie GmtlemarCs Magadhe, " tlial long after signs became unnecessary, it was not unusual for an opulent shopkeeper to lay out as much upon a sign, and the curious ironwork with which it was fixed in the house, so as to project nearly in the middle of tie street, as would furnish a less considerable dealer with a st6ck in trade. - I have been credibly informed that there were many signs and sign irons upon Ludgate Hill which cost several hundred pounds, and that as much was laid out by a mercer on the sign of the Queen's Head, as would have gone a good way towards decorating the original for a birth- day." Misson, a French traveller who visited England in 1719, thus speaks about -the signs : — " By a decree of the police, the signs of Paris must be small, and not too far advanced from the houses. At London, they are commonly ^very large, and jut out so far, that in some narrow streets they touch one another ; nay, and run across almost quite to the other side. They are generally adorned with carving and gilding ; and there are several that, with the branches of iron which support them, cost above a hundred guineas. They seldom write upon the signs the name of the thing represented in it, so that there is no need of Molifere's inspector. But this does not at all please the German and other travelling strangers ; because, for want of the things being so named, they have not an opportunity of learning their names in England, as they stroll along the streets. Out of London, and par- ticularly in villages, the signs of inns are suspended in the middle of a great wooden portal, which may be looked upon as a kind of triumphal arch to the honour of Bacchus." M. Grosley, another Frenchman, who made a voyage through England in 1765, makes very similar remaiks. As soon as he landed at Dover, he observes, — " I saw nothing remarkable, but the enormous size of the public-house signs, the ridiculous rdagnificence of the ornaments with which' they are overcharged, the height of a sort of triumphal arches that support them, and most of which cross the streets," &c. Elsewhere he says, "In fact nothing can be more inconsistent than the choice and the placing of the ornaments, with which the signposts and the outside of the shops of the citizens are loaded." But gaudy and richly ornamented as they were, it would seem that, after all, the pictures were bad, and that the absence of inscriptions was not to be lamented, for those that existed only "made fritters of English." The Tatler, No. 18, amused his readers at the expense of their spelling : — " There is an offence I have a thousand times lamented, but fear I shall never see remedied, which is that, in a nation where learning is so frequent as in Great Britain, there should be so many gross errors as there THE " TATLER" ON SIGNS. 27 are, in tlie very direction of things wherein accuracy is necessary for the conduct of life. This is notoriously observed by aU men of letters when they first come to town, (at which time they are usually curious that way,) in the inscriptions on signposts. I have cause to know this matter as well as anybody, for I have, when I went to Merchant Taylor's School, suffered stripes for spelling after the signs I observed in my way; though at the same time, I must confess, staring at those inscriptions first gave me an idea and curiosity for medals, in which I have since arrived at some knowledge. Many a man has lost his way and his dinner, by this general want of skUl ia orthography; for, considering that the paintings are usually so very bad that you cannot know the animal under whose sign you are to live that day, how must the stranger be misled, if it is wrong spelled as weU as Ul painted? I have a cousin now in town, who has answered under bachelor at Queen's College, whose name is Humphrey Mopstaff, (he is akin to us by his mother;) this young man, going to see a relation in Barbican, wandered a whole day by the mistake of one letter ; for it was written, ' This is the Beer,' instead of ' This is the Bear.' He was set right at last by inquiring for the house of a fellow who could not read, -and knew the place mechanically, only by having been often drunk there. ... I propose that every tradesman in the city of London and West- minster shall give me a sixpence a quarter, for keeping their signs in repair as to the grammatical part ; and I wiU taie into my house a Swiss count* of my acquaintance, who can remember aU their names without book, for despatch' sake, setting up the head of the said foreigner for my sign, the features being strong and fit to hang high." Had the signs murdered only the king's English, it might have been forgiven ; but even the lives of his majesty's subjects were not secure from them ; for, leaving alone the complaints raised about their preventing the circulation of fresh air, a more serious charge was brought against them in 1718, when a sign in Bride's Lane, Fleet Street, by its weight dragged down the front of the house, and in its fall kiUed two young ladies, the king's jeweller, and a cobbler. A commission of inquiiy into the nuisance was appointed ; but, like most commissions and committees, they talked a great deal and had some dinners ; in the meantime the * Probably John James Heidegger, director of the Opera, a verj ugly man. 28 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. public interest and excitement abated, and matters remained as they were. In the year 1762 considerable attention was directed to sign- boards by Bonnell Thornton, a clever wag, who, to burlesque the exhibitions of the Society of Artists, got up an Exhibition of Signboards. In a preliminary advertisement, and in his pub- lished catalogue, he described it as the "Exhibition ov the Society of Sign-painteks of all the curious signs to be met with in town or coimtry, together with such original designs as might be transmitted to them, as specimens' of the native genius of the nation." Hogarth, who understood a joke as well as any man in England, entered into the spirit of the humour, was on the hanging committee, and added a few touches to heighten the absurdity. The whole affair proved a great success.* This comical exhibition was the greatest glory to which sign- boards were permitted to attain, as not more than four years after they had a fall from which they never recovered. Educa- tion had now so generally spread, that the majority of the people could read sufficiently well to decipher a -name and a number. The continual exhibjtion of pictures in the streets and thorough- fares consequently became useless ; the information they con- veyed could be imparted in a more convenient an'd simple manner, whilst their evils could be avoided. The strong feeling ' of corporations, too, had set in steadily against signboards, and henceforth they were doomed. Paris, this time, set the example : by an act of September 17, 1761, M. de Sartines, Lieutenant de Police, ordered that, in a month's time from the publication of the act, all signboards in Paris and its suburbs were to be fixed against the walls of the houses, and not to' project more than four inches, including the border, frame, or other ornaments ; — also, all the signposts and sign irons were to be removed from the streets and thoroughfares, and the passage cleared. London soon followed : in the Daily News, November 1762, we find : — " The signs in Duke's Court, St Martin's Lane, we/e all taken down and affixed to the front of the houses." Thus Westminster had the honour to begin the innovation, by pro- curing an act with ample powers to improve the pavement, &c., of the streets ; and this act also sealed the doom of the sign- • For a fall account of the " Exhibition," see in the Supplement at the end of this work. AOTS OF PARLIAMENT TO REMOVE SIGNS. 29 boards, -which, as in Paris, were ordered to be afSxed to the houses. This was enforced by a statute of 2 Geo. III. c. 21, enlarged at various times. Other parishes were longer in mak- ing up their mind ; but the great disparity in the appearance of the streets westward from Temple Bar, and those eastward, at last made the Corporation of London , follow the example, and adopt similar improvements. Suitable powers to carry out the scheme were soon obtained. In the 6 Geo. III. the Court of Common CouncU appointed commissions, and in a few months all the parishes began to clear away: St Botolph in 1767 ; St Leonard, Shoreditch, in 1768 ; St Martin's-le-Grand in 1769 ; and Marylebone in 1770.* By these acts — " The commissioners are empowered to take down and remove all signs or other emblems used to denote the trade, occupation, or calling of any person or persons, signposts, signirons, balconies, penthouses, showboards, spouts, and gutters, prnjecting into any of the said streets, &c., and all other encroachments, projections, and annoyances whatsoever, within the said cities and liberties, and cause the same, or such parts thereof as they think fit, to be affixed or placed on the fronts of the houses, shops, warehouses, or buildings to which they belong, and return to the owner so much as shall not be put up again or otherwise made use of in such alterations ; and any person having, placing, erecting, or building any sign, signpost, or other post, signirons, balcony, penthouse, obstruction, or annoyance, is subject to a I'enalty of £5, and twenty shillings a day for continuing the same." 1* With the signboards, of course, went the signposts. The re- moving of the posts, and paving of the streets with Scotch granite, gave rise to the following epigram : — " The Scottish new pavement well deserves our praise ; To the Scotch we 're obliged, too, for mending our ways ; But this we can never forgive, for they say As that they have taken our posts all away." After the signs and posts had been removed, we can imagine how bleak and empty the streets at first appeared ; how silent in the night-time ; what a difficulty there must have been in finding out the houses and shops ; and how everybody, particu- larly the old people, grumbled about the innovations. Now numbers appeared everywhere. As early as 1512 an * The last streets that kept them swinging were Wood Street and Whitecroas Street, where they remained till 1773 ; whilst in Holywell Street, Strand, not mori thnn twenty yeaa-s ago, so^e were still dangling above the shop do^rs. In the sui^urbs many may be observed even at the present day. t Laws, Customs, Usages, anil Eegulatuns of the City and Port of London. By Alex- ander Fulling. Lon (on, 1854. Under the 72d section of the 67 Geo. III. ch. 29. post. 315, Mr Ballantine, some years ago, decided against a pawnhrolti-r's sign being ■ onsidered a nuisance notwitli- standing it projected over the footway, unless it obstructed the circulation of light auu, air, or was inconvenient orincommodious. 30 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. attempt had been made in Paris at numbering sixty-eight new' houses, built in that year on the Pont N6tre-Dame, which were all distinguished by 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. ; yet more than two centuries elapsed before the numerical arrangement was generally adopted. In 1787 the custom in France had becopie almost universal, but was not enforced by police regulations until 1805. In London it appears to have been attempted in the beginning of the eighteenth century ; for in Hatton's " New View of London," 1708, we see that "in Prescott Street, Goodman's Fields, instead of signs the houses are distinguished by numbers, as the stair- cases in the Inns of Court and Chancery." In all probability reading was not sufficiently widespread at that time to- bring this novelty into general practice. Yet how much more simple is the method of numbering, for giving a clear and unmistakable direction, may be seen from the means resorted to to indicate a house under the signboard system ; as for instance r — " J\^0 BE LETT, Newbury House, in St James's Park, next door but one to JL Lady Oxford's, having two balls at the gate, and iron rails before the door," &c., &c. — Advertisement in the original edition of the Specta- tor, No. 207. "AT HEH HOUSE, the Eed Ball and Aookn, over against the Globb j\. Tavern, in Queen Street, Cheapside, near the Three Crowhs, liveth a Gentlewoman," &o. At night the difficulty of finding a house was greatly increased, for the light of the lamps was so faint that the signs, generally hung rather high, could scarcely be discerned. Other means, therefore, were resorted to, as we see from the advertisement of " Doctor James Tilbrogh, a German Doctor," >who resides "over against -the New Exchange in Bedford Street, at the sign of the Peacock, where you shall see at night two candles burning within one of the chambers before the balcony, and a lanthom with a candle in it upon the balcony." And in that strain all directions were given : over against, or next door to, w^re among the consecrated formulae. Hence many dispensed with a picture of their own, and clung, like parasites, to the sign opposite or next door, particularly if it was a shop of some note. ^Others resorted to painting their houses, doors, balconies, or doorposts, in some striking colour ; hence those Bed, Blue, or White Houses stiU so common ; hence also the Blue Posts and the Green Posts. So we find a Dark House in Chequer Alley, Moorfields, a Green Door in Craven BuUding, and a Blue Balcony in Little Queen Street, aU of which figure on the seventeenth century trades HOUSES DISTINGUISHED BY COLOUR. 3 1 tokens.* Those who did much trade by night, as coffee-houses, quacks, &c., adopted lamps 'with coloured glasses, by which they distinguished their houses. This custom has come down to us, and is still adhered to by doctors, chemists, public-houses, and occasionally by sweeps. Yet, though the numbers were now an established fact, tha shopkeepers stiU. clung to the old traditions, and for years con- tinued to display their signs, grand, gorgeous, and gigantic as ever, though affixed to the houses. As late as 1803, a traveller thus writes about London : — " As it is one of the principal secrets of the trade to attract the attention of that tide of people which is constantly ebbing and flowing in the streets, it may easily be conceived that great pains are taken to give a striking form to the signs and devices hanging out before their shops. The whole front of a house is frequently employed for this pur- pose. Thus, in the vicinity of Ludgate Hill, the house of S , who has amassed a fortune of ^£40,000 by selling razors, is daubed with large capitals three feet high, acquainting the public that ' the most excellent and superb patent razors are sold here.' As soon, therefore, as a shop has acquired some degree of repu- tation, the younger brethren of the trade copy its device. A grocer in the city, who had a large Beehive for his sign hanging out before his shop, had allured a great many customers. No sooner were the peopte seen swarming about this hive than the old signs suddenly disappeared, and Beehives, elegantly gilt, were substituted in their places. Hence the grocer was obliged to insert an advertisement in the newspapers, importing ' that he was the sole proprietor of the original and celebrated Beehive^ A similar accident befell the shop of one E in Cheapside, who has a considerable demand for his goods on account of their cheapness and excellence. The sign of thi^ gentleman consists in a prodigious Grasshopper, and as this insect-had quickly pro- pagated its species through every part of the city, Mr E has in his advertisements repeatedly requested the public to observe that ' the genuine Grasshopper is only to be found before his warehouse.' He has, however, been so successful as to persuade several young beginners to enter into engagements with him, on conditions very advantageous to himself, by which they have obtained a licence for hanging out the sign of a Grasshopper • Trades tokens were brass farthings issued by shopkeepers in the seTeuteenth cen- tury, and stamped with the sign of the shop and the name of its owner. 32 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. before their shops, expressly adding this clause in large capitals, that ' they are genuine descendants of the renowned and match- less Grasshopper of Mr E in Cheapside.'"* i Such practices as these^ however, necessarily gave the deathblow to signboards ; for, by reason of this imitation on the part of rival shopkeepers, the main object — distinction and notoriety — was lost. How was a stranger to know which of those innumerable Beehives in the Strand was the Beehive ; or wliich of all those " genuine Grasshoppers" was the genuine one ? So, gradually, the signs began to dwindle away, first in the principal streets, then in the smaller thoroughfares and the suburbs ; finally, in the provincial towns also. The publicans only retained them, and even they in the end were satisfied with the name without the sign, vox et praeterea nihil. In the seventeenth century signs had been sung in sprightly ballads, and often given the groundwork for a biting satire. They continued to inspire the popular Muse until the end, but her latter productions were more like a waU than a ballad. There is certainly a rollicking air of gladness about the following song, but it was the last flicker of the lamp : — " THE MAIL-COACH GDAED. At each inn on the road I a welcome could find : — At the Fleece I 'd my skin full of ale ; The Two Jolly Brewers were just to my mind ; At the Dolphin I drank like a whale. Tom Tun at the Hogshead sold pretty good stufT; They 'd capital flip at the Boar ; And when at the Angel I 'd tippled enough, I went to the Devil for more. Then I 'd always a sweetheart ao snug at the Car ; At the B.ose I 'd a lily so white ; Few planets could equal sweet Nan at the Star, No eyes ever twinkled so bright. I Ve had many a hug at the sign of the Bear ; In the Sun courted morning and noon ■ And when night put an end to my happiness there, I'd a sweet little girl in the Moan. To sweethearts and ale I at length bid adieu Of wedlock to set up the sign : Band-in-hamd the Good Woman I look for in you. And the Horns I hope ne'er will be mine. Once guard to the mail, I 'm now guard to the fair ; But though my commission 's laid down. Yet while the King's Arms I 'm permitted to bear, Like a Lion I '11 fight for the Crown." •Mcmorinls of Nature and Art collected on a JoumeT in Great Britan ^i,rin,Tf>. Viws 1802 and 1803. By C. A. G. Goede. London, 1808. Vou! p. 68. " ■""^ '*"* . LOVE-SIONS AT OXFORD. 33 This was written in the be^nning of the century, when eighteen hundred was stUl in her teens. A considerable failing ofif may be observed in the following, contributed by a correspondent of William Hone : — " SIGNS GP LOVE AT OXFOBD. By an Inn-consolaile Lover. She 's aa light as The Cfreyhound, as fair as The Angel, Her looks than The Mitre more Banctified are ; But she flies like The Roebuck, and leaves me to range ill, Still looking to her as my true polar Star. NeiB /nn-ventions I try, with new art to adore, But my fate is, alas, to be voted a Boar ; ]VIy Goats I forsook to contemplate her charms, And must own she is fit for our noble King's Arms ; Now Cross'd, and now Jockey'd, now sad, now elate, The Checquers appear but a map of my fate ; I blush'd like a Blue Cur, to send her a Pheasant, But she call'd me a Turk, and rejected my present ; So I moped to The Barley Mow, grieved in my mind. That The Ark from the Flood ever rescued mankind ! In my dreams Lions roar, and The Green Dragon grins, And fiends rise in shape of The Seven Deadly Sims, When I ogle The Bells, should I see her approach, I skip like a Nag and jump into The Coach. ■She is crimson and wtite like a Shoulder of Mutton, Not the red of The Ox was so bright when first put on j Like Th£ Holly hish prickles she scratches my liver. While I moan and die like a Swan by the river." But tame as this last performance is, it is " merry as a brass band " when compared with a ballad sung in the streets some twenty years later, entitled, " Laughable and Interesting Picture of Druniienness." Speaking of the publicans, who call them- selves " Lords," it says : — " If these be the Lords, there are many kinds, For over their doors you will see many signs ; There is The King, and likewise The Crown, And beggars are made in every town. There is The Queen, and likewise her Head, And many I fear to the gallows are led ; There is The Angel, and also The Deer, Destroying health in every sphere. , There is The Lamb, likewise The Fleece, And the fruit 's bad throughout the whole piece ; There is The White Hart, also The Cross Keys, And many they 've sent far over the seas. There is The Bull, and likewise his Head, His Horns are so strong, they will gore you quite dead ; C 34 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. There 's The Bare and Hounds that never did run, And many 'a been hung for the deeds they 've done. There are Two Fighting Cocks that never did crow. Where men often meet to break God's holy vow ; There is The New Inn, and the Rodney they say, Which send men to jail their debts for to pay. The Hope and The Anchor, The Twrk and his Head, Hundreds they 've caused for to wander for bread ; There is The White Horse, also The Woolpach, Take the shoes off your feet, and the clothes off your back. The Axe and the Cleaver, The Jockey and Horse, Some they 've made idle, some they 've made worse ; The George a,nd the Dragon, and Nelson the brave, Many lives they 've shorten'd and brought to the grave. The Fox and the Goose, and The Guns put across, But all the craft is to get hold of the brass ; The Bird in the Cage, and the sign of The Thrush, But one in the hand is worth two in the bush." There is an unpleasant musty air about this ballad, a taint of Seven Dials, an odour of the ragged dresscoat, and the broken, iQ- used hat. The gay days of signboard poetry, when sparks in feathers and ruffles sang their praises, are no more. Our fore- fathers were content to buy " at the Golden Frying-pan," but we must needs go to somebody's emporium, mart, repository, or make our purchases at such grand places as the Pantocapelleion, Pantometallurgicon, or Panklibanon. The corruptions and mis- applications of the old pictorial signboards find a parallel in the modem rendering of our ancient proverbs and sayings. When the primary use and purpose of an article have fallen out of fashion, or become obsolete, there is no knowing how absurdly it may not be treated by succeeding generations. We were once taken many miles over fields and through lanes to see the great stone coffins of some ancient Eomans, biit the farmer, a sulky man, thought we were impertinent in wishing to see his pig- troughs. In Haarlem, we were once shewn the huge cannon-ball which killed Heemskerk, the discoverer of Nova Zembla. When not required for exhibition, however, the good man in charge found it of great use in grinding his mustard-seed. Amongst the middle classes of to-day, no institution of ancient times has been more corrupted and misapplied than heraldry. The modern " Forrester," or member of the " Ancient Order of Druids," is scarcely a greater burlesque upon the original than the beer- retailers' " Arms" of the present hour MODERN CORRUPTIONS OF THE ANTIQUE. 35 Good wine and beer were formerly to be had at the Boar's Head, or the Three Tuns ; but those emblems will not do now, it must be the " Arms " of somebody or something ; whence we find such anomalies as the Angel Arms, (Clapham Road ;) Dun- stan's Arms, (City Road;) Digger's Arms, (Petworth, Surrey;) Farmet's Arms and Gardener's Arms, (Lancashire ;) Grand Junc- tion Arms, (Praed Street, London ;) Griffin's Arms, (Warrington ;) Mount Pleasant Ai-ms, Paragon Arms, (Kingston, Surrey;) St I'auVs Arms, (Newcastle;) PortcuZlis Arms, (Ludlow;) Pvddler's Arms, (Wellington, Shropshire;) Railway Arms, (Ludlow;) Sol's Anns, (Hampstead Row ;) the Vulcan Arms, (SheflBeld ;) GeneraVs Arms, (Little Baddon, Essex ;) the Waterloo Arms, (High Street, Marylebone,) dsc. Besides these, a quantity of newfangled, high- sounding, but unmeaning names seem to be the order of the day with gin-palaces and refreshment-houses, as, Perseverance, Enter- prise, Paragon, Criterion. Notwithstanding these innovations, the majority of the old objects still survive, in name at least, on the signboards of alp- houses and taverns. Their use may stUl be regarded as a rule with publicans and innkeepers, although they have become the exception in other trades. Occasionally, also, we may still come upon a painted signboard, but these are daily becoming scarcer. Not so in France ; there the good old tradition of the painted signboard is yet kept up. We get a good glimpse of this subject in the following : * — " But it is the signs that so amuse and abso- lutely arrest a stranger. This is a practice that has grown into a mania at Paris, and is even a subject for the ridicule of the stage, since many a shopkeeper considers Ms sign as a. primary matter, and spends a little capital in this one outfit. Many of them exhibit figures as large as life, painted in no humble or shabby style ; while history, sacred and classical, religion, the stage, &c., furnish subjects. You may see the Horatii and Curiatii — a scene from the ' Fourberies de Scapin ' of Moliere — a group of -French soldiers, with the inscription, A la Valeur des Soldats Frangais, or a group of children inscribed & la reunion des Pons Enfants,\ — or d la Baigneuse, depicting a beautiful nymph just issuing from the bath ; 01 & la Somnambule, a pretty girl walking in her sleep and nightdress, and followed by her gallant. J * Mementos, Historical and Classical, of a Tour through part of France, Swlker^and, and Italy, in the Years 1821 and 1822. London, 1824. t Un bon enfant is in French "a jolly good fellow," as well as a " good child,' t Taken from the Opera "La Somnamkala." 36 ,THE. HISTORY OF SIONBOAEDS. "•In ludicrous things', a barber will write under Hi* sign : — ' La Nature donne barbe et cheveux, Et moi, je les coupe tous les deux.' * ' A toutes lea figures dediant mes rasoirs, Je nargue la censure des fid^es miroirs.' t " Also a frequent inscription with, a barber is, ' loi on rajeunit.' A breeches-maker writes up,^ M , Culottier de Mme. la Buchesse de Devonshire. A perruquier exhibits a'sign, very well painted, of an old fop trying on a new wig, entitled, Au ci-devant jeune homme. A butcher displays a bouquet of faded flowers, with this inscription, Au tendre Souvenir. An eating-house ex- hibits a punning sign, with an ox dressed up with bonnet, lace veil, shawl, &c., which naturally implies, Boeuf &-la-m,ode. A pastry- cook has a very pretty little girl climbing up to reach some cakes in a cupboard, and this sign he calls, A la petite Gourmande. A stocking-inaker has painted for him a lovely creature, trying on a new stocking, at the same time exhibiting more charms than the occasion requires to the young fellow who is on his knees at her feet, with the very significant motto, A la belle occasion." J Though it is forty years since these remarks were written, they stiU, mutatis mutandis, apply to the present day. Even the greatest and most fashionable shops on the Boulevards have their names or painted signs ; the subjects are mostly taken from the principal topic of conversation at the time the establishment opened, whether politics, literature, the drama, or fine arts : thus h'e have a la Fr&sidence ; au Prophete; au Palais d' In- dustrie ; aux Enfants d'Edouard, (the Princes in the Tower ;) au Golosse de Rhodes ; h la Tour de Malahoff; d, la Tour de Nesles, (tragedy ;) au Sonneur de St Paul, (tragedy ;) di la Dame Blanche ; h la Bataille de Solferino ; au Trois Mous- quetaires; au Lingot d'Or, (a great lottery swindle in 1852 ;) d la Reine Blanche, &c.§ Some of these signs are remarkably well painted, in a vigorous, bold style, with great bravura of brush ; for instancfe, les Noces de Vulcain, on the Quai aux Fleurs, is painted in a style which would do no discredit to the artist of les Romains de la Decadence. Roger Boniemps is stUl frequent * " Nature prorides- man with hair and beard,. But I cut them both." t " I devote my razors to all faces, And defv the criticism of faithful mirrors." t A sort of pun, "la belle occasion" Implying the same idea that our shopkeepers ex- press by their "Now is your time," and similar-puffs. 2 Similar instances may also be occasionally met with in London; for instanee, the Corsican Brothers, (Coffee-house, Fulham Boad,) MARCHANDS DE VINS. 37 oil the rrench signboard, ■wiere he is represented as a jolly, rubicund toper, crowned with vine-leaves and seated astride a tun, with a brimming tumbler in his hand ; this is a favourite sign with ptiblicans. At the tobacconist's door we may see a sign representing an elderly Paul Pry-looking gentleman enjoying a pinch of snuff. The Bureaux des Semplacements Militaires par- ticularly excel in a gaudy display of military subjects, where the various passages of a soldier's life are represented with all the romance of the warriors of the comic opera. Here can be seen the gallant troopers now courting Jeanette or Fanchon ; now charging Russians, Cabyles, or Austrians, according to the date of the picture. Elsewhere a lancer on a fantastic wild horse ; a guide, walking with a pretty vivandiere, or an old grenadier with the Legion of Honour upon his breast ; — " aU the glorious pomp and circumstance of war" portrayed to entice the French clodhopper to sell himself " to death or to glory." More pacific pictures may be observed at the door of the midwife ; there we see a sedate-looking matron in ecstasy over the interesting young stranger she has just ushered forth into the world, whilst pater- familias stands with a triumphant look in the background. Then there is the Herculean coalheaver at the door of the auvergnat, who sells coals and firewood ; and landscapes with cattle at the dairyshops. But amongst the best painted are those at the doors of the marchands de vins et . de comestibles, where we see fre- quently bunches of fruit, game, flowers, glasses, hams, fowls, fish, all cleverly grouped together, and painted in a dashing style. There is one, for instance, in the Rue Bellechasse, and another in the Eue St Lazare, that are well worth inspection. These paint- ings are generally on the door-posts and window-frames ; they are painted on thin white canvas, fixed with varnish at the back of a thick piece of plateglass, and so let into the woodwork. And now a few words concerning the painters of signs. Their head-quarters were in Harp AUey, Shoe Lane, wHere, until lately, gUt grapes, sugar-loaves, lasts, teapots, &c., &c., were displayed ready for the market. Here Messrs Barlow, Craddock, and others, whose names are now as completely lost as their works, had their studios, and produced some very creditable signs, both carved and painted. A few, however, were the productions of no mean artists. The Spectator, January 8, 1743, No. 744, says: — " The other day, going down Ludgate Street, several people were gaping »t a very splendid sign of Qiieen Elizabeth, which by far exceeded all the 38 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. othei- Bigng in the street, the painter liaving shewn a masterly judgment, and the carver and gilder much pomp and splendour. It looked rather like a capital picture in a gallery than a sign in the street." Unfortunately the name of the artist who painted this has not come down to us. ■ , Those who produced the test signs, howerer, were not exactly the Harp Alley sign-painters, but the coach-paiaters, who often united these two branches of art. In the last century, both the coaches and sedans of the wealthy classes were-walking picture galleries, the panels being paihted with all sorts of subjects.* And when the men that painted these turned their hands to sign- painting, they were sure to produce something good. Such was Clarkson, to whom J. T. Smith ascribed the beautiful sign of Shakespeare that formerly hung in Little Eussell Street, Drury Lane, for which he was paid £500. — John Baker, {ph. 1771f) who studied under the same master as Catton, and was made a member of the Eoyal Academy at its foundation. — Charles Catton {oh. 1798) painted several very good signs, particularly a Lion for his friend Wright, a famous coachmaker, at that time living in Long Acre. This picture, though it had weathered many a storm, was still to be seen in J. T. Smith's time, at a coachmaker's on the west side of Well Street, Oxford Street. A Turk's head, painted by him, was long admired as the sign of a mercer in York Street, Covent Garden. — John Baptist Cipriani, {oh. 1785,) a Florentine carriage-painter, living in London, also a Royal Academician.— Samuel Wale, RA. {oh. 1786) painted a celebrated Falstaff and various other signs ; the principal one was a whole length of Shakespeare, about five feet high, which was executed for and displayed at the door of a public-house at the north-west corner of Little Eussell Street, Drury Lane. It was enclosed in a most sumptuous carved gilt frame, and was suspended by rich ironwork. But this splendid object of attrac- tion did not hang long before it was taken down, in consequence of the Act of Parliament for removing the signs and other obstruc- tions in the streets of London. Such was the change in the public appreciation consequent on the new regulations in signs, that this representation of our great dramatic poet was sold for a trifle to Mason the broker in Lower Grosvenor Street, where it stood 'at his door for several years, imtil it was totally destroyed by the weather and other accidents.t * Two or three good examples are to be seen in the South Kensington Museam t Edwards's Anecdotes of Painters, 1808, p. 117. TTDOARTffS MAN LOADED WITH MISCHIEF. 39 The universal use of signboards furnished no little employment for the inferior rank of painters, and sometimes even to the supe- rior professors. Among the most celebrated practitioners in this branch was a person of the name of Lamb, who possessed con- siderable ability. His pencil was bold and masterly, and well adapted to the subjects on which it was generally employed. There was also Gwynne, another coach-painter, who acquired some reputation as a marine painter, and produced a few 'good signs. Eobert Dalton, keeper of the pictures of King George III, had been apprenticed to a sign and coach-painter ; so were Ealph Kirby, drawing-master to George IV. when Prince of Wales, Thomas Wright of Liverpool, the marine painter, Smirke, E.A., and many artists who acquired considerable after-reputation. Peter Monamy (ph. 1749) was apprenticed to a sign and house- painter on London Bridge. It was this artist who decorated the carriage of Admiral Byng with ships and naval trophies, and painted a portrait of Admiral Vernon's ship for a famous public- house of the day, well known by the sign of the Portohello, a few doors north of the church in St Martin's Lane.* Besides these, we have the "great professors," as Edwards calls them, who occasionally painted a sign for a freak. At the head of these stands Hogarth, whose Man loaded with Mischief is stUl to be seen at 414 Oxford Street, where it is a fixture in the alehouse of that name. Kichard Wilson, II.A., {oh. 1782,) painted the Three Logger- heads for an alehouse in North Wales, which gave its name to the village of Loggerheads, near the town of Mould. The paint- ing was stUl exhibited as a signboard in 1824, though little of Wilson's work remained, as it had been repeatedly touched up. George Morland painted several; the Goat in Boots on the Fulham Koad is attributed to him, but has since been painted often over ; he also painted a White Lion for an inn at Padding- ton, where he used to carouse vrith his boon companions, Ibbetson and Rathbone ; and in a small public-house near Chelsea Bridge, Surrey, there was, as late as 1824, a sign of the Cricketers painted by him. This painting by Morland, at the date mentioned, had been removed inside the house, and a copy of it hung up for the sign ; unfortunately, however, the landlord used to travel about with the original, and put it up before his booth at Staines and Egham races, cricket matches, and similar occasions. • 3. 1. Smith's Nollekeoa and his Times, toL i. p. 2S 40 THE HISTORY OF SIGNBOARDS. Ibbetson painted a sign for the \TEage alehonse at Troutbeck, near Ambleside, to settle a bill run up in a sketching, fishing, and dolce-far-niente expedition ; the sign represented two faces, the one thin and pale, the other jolly and rubicund ; under it was the following rhyme : — " Thou mortal man that liv'st by bread. What made thy face to look so red? Thou silly fop, that looks so pale, 'Tia red with Tommy Burkett'a ale." * David Cox painted a Eoyal Oak for the alehouse at Bettws-y- Coed, Denbighshire ; fortunately this has been taken down, and is now preserved behind glas? inside the inn. The elder Crome produced a sign of the Sawyers at St Martins, Norwich ; it was afterwards taken down by the owner, framed, and hung up as a picture. At New Inn Lane, Epsom, Harlow painted a front and a back view of Queen Charlotte, to settle a bill he had run up ; he imi- tated Sir Thomas Lawrence's style, and signed it "T. L.," Greek Street, Sohd. When Lawrence heard this, he got in a terrible rage and said, if Harlow were not a scoundrel, he would kick him from one street's end to the other ; upon which Harlow very coolly remarked, that when Sir Thomas should make up his mind to it, he hoped he would choose a short street. In. his younger days Sir Charles Eoss painted a sign of the Magpie at Sudbury, and the landlady of the house, with no small pride, gave the informant to understand that, more than thirty years after, the aristocratic portrait-painter came in a carriage to her house, and asked to be shewn the old sign once more. Herring is said to have painted some signs. Amongst them are the Flying Dutchman, at Cottage Green, CamberweU, and a White Lion at Doncaster ; underneath the last are the words, — " Painted hy Hemng." Millais painted a Saint George and Dragon, with grapes round it, for the Vidler's Inn, Hayes, Kent ; and we learn that a sign at Singleton, Lanc£i,shire, was painted by an E..A. and an KS., each painting one side of it ; on the front was represented a wearied pilgrim, at the back the same refreshed, but the sign was never hung up. Great men of former ages, also, are known to have painted signs; * Tommy Bui'kett was the name of mine host The painting