As to signs, many are curious enough, but there is a considerable amount of sameness about many. You meet Red Lions, White Harts, Kings’ Arms, Dukes’ Arms, Cricketers’ Arms, and arms of all sorts everywhere, and Woolpacks, and Eagles, and Rising Suns, ad nauseam.
The sign of a five-barred gate hung out is not uncommon in the Midland Counties, with the following doggerel verse:—
“This gate hangs well,
And hinders none;
Refresh and pay,
And travel on.”
Although the Wanderer is nearly always taken for what she is—a private carriage on a large scale—still it is amusing sometimes to note what I am mistaken for, to wit:—
1. “General” in the Salvation Army.
2. Surgeon-attendant on a nervous old lady who is supposed to be inside.
3. A travelling artist.
4. A photographer.
5. A menagerie.
6. A Cheap-Jack.