The sign-board of Walker’s Tavern, a famous house of entertainment in Charlestown, New Hampshire, is shown on [page 162]. It bears a beehive and bees. This sign is now owned by the Worcester Society of Antiquity.
The Washington Hotel, at the corner of Sixth and Carpenter streets, had several landlords, and in 1822 became the New Theatre Hotel. Woodside painted a handsome sign, bearing a portrait of the famous old actor and theatrical manager, William Warren, as Falstaff, with the inscription, “Shall I not take mine ease at my inn?” A writer in the Despatch says the tavern did not prosper, though its rooms were let for meetings of clubs, societies, audits, and legal proceedings. It was leased by Warren himself in 1830, and still the tavern decayed. He left it and died, and the fine sign-board faded, and was succeeded by the plain lettering, Fallstaff Inn, and the appropriate motto, chosen by Warren, gave place to “Bring me a cup of sack, Hal.” The place was a “horrible old rattletrap,” and was soon and deservedly demolished.
The Raleigh Inn, in Third Street, showed the story of the servant throwing water over the nobleman at the sight of smoke issuing from his mouth. This was a favorite tale of the day, and the portrayal of it may be seen in many an old-time picture-book for children.
On Thirteenth Street, near Locust, was a sign copied from a London one:—
“I William McDermott lives here,
I sells good porter, ale, and beer,
I’ve made my sign a little wider
To let you know I sell good cider.”
On the Germantown road the Woodman Tavern had a sign-board with a woodman, axe, and the following lines:—
“In Freedom’s happy land
My task of duty done,
In Mirth’s light-hearted band
Why not the lowly woodman one?”
The Yellow Cottage was a well-known Philadelphia tavern, half citified, half countrified. Its sign read:—
“Rove not from sign to sign, but stop in here,
Where naught exceeds the prospect but the beer.”
These lines were a paraphrase of the witty and celebrated sign, said to have been written by Dean Swift for a barber who kept a public house:—