That cocks, sometimes in the middle ages, forgot themselves so far as to lay eggs, appears from a lawsuit which poor chanticleer had at Basle in 1474, when he was convicted, condemned, and, with his egg, burned at the stake for a sorcerer, with as much pomp and ceremony as if he had been a Protestant or other heretic.
The [Ape] was, in bygone times, the sign of an inn in Philip Lane, near London wall; all that now remains of this ancient hostelry is a stone carving of a monkey squatted on its haunches, and eating an apple; under it the date 1670, and the initial B. The courtyard, where the lumbering coaches used to arrive and depart, is now an open space, round which houses are built. The Racoon is a painted sign at Dalston, but a hyæna seems to have sat for the portrait; the Hippopotamus occurs in New-England Street, Brighton; the Ibex at Chadelworth, Wantage; the Crocodile in Higham Street, Norwich; the Camel may be met with in a few instances, and at Weston Peverell, Plymouth, there is the sign of the Camel’s Head. Finally, there is the Kangaroo, of which, occasionally, an example may be seen, set up probably by some landlord who had tried his luck in Australia. The Civet is common all over Europe as a perfumer’s sign, as it was said to produce musk. A Dutch perfumer in the seventeenth century wrote under his sign:—
“Dit ’s in de Civet kat, gelyk gy kunt aanschouwen,
Maar komt hier binnen, hier zyn parfuimen voor mannen en vrouwen.”[220]
The [Hedgehog] was never very common. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was the sign of William Seeres, bookseller, in St Paul’s Churchyard, who put it up, according to Bagford, on account of its being the badge of his former master Sir Henry Sydney.[221] Apparently this same house was concerned in the following strange affair:—
“By a lettere dated London, 11 May 1555, it appears that in Powles Churchyearde at the sign of the Hedgehog, the goodwife of the house was brought to bed of a manchild, being of the age of 6 dayes and dienge the 7th daye followinge; and half an hour before it departed spake these words followinge: (rise and pray) and so continued half an houre in thes words and then cryinge departed the worlde. Hereupon the Bishope of London examined the goodman of the house and other credible persones who affirmed it to be true and will dye uppon the same.”[222]
The Hedgehog is now very scarce on signboards; at Dadlington, near Market Bosworth, there is a Dog and Hedgehog, doubtless borrowed from the well-known engraving of “A Rough Customer.”
Signs relating to sport or the chase are comparatively common; thus we have the Rat and Ferret at Wilson, near Ashby de la Zouch; the Three Conies, or rabbits, figure on an old trades token of Blackman Street; the Hare, on the token of John Perris in the Strand, 1666; and Nicholas Warren, in Aldersgate.[223] Warren evidently made a cockney mistake, thinking that hares, instead of rabbits, lived in warrens. Another Hare was the sign of Philip Hause in Walbrook in 1682.[224] The Hare and Squirrel occur together on a sign at Nuneaton; what the combination means it is difficult to surmise.
“Cages with climbing Squirrels and bells to them were formerly the indispensable appendages of the outside of a Tinman’s shop, and were, in fact, the only live sign. One, we believe, still (1826) hangs out on Holborn; but they are fast vanishing with the good old modes of our ancestors.”[225]
The [Three Squirrels] was the sign of an inn at Lambeth, mentioned by Taylor the Water poet in 1636; and from a trades token it appears that in the seventeenth century there was a similar sign in Fleet Street. Probably it was the same house which, in 16734, was occupied by Gosling the banker, “over against St Dunstan’s Church,” where the triad of squirrels may still be seen in the iron-work of the windows. Gosling’s was one of the leading banking establishments in the reign of Charles II. Among the curiosities of this old firm is a bill for £640, 8s., paid out of the secret service money for gold lace and silver lace, bought by the Duchess of Cleveland for the wedding clothes of the Lady Sussex and Litchfield.
The Hare and Hounds are very common; some fifty years ago it was the sign of a notorious establishment in St Giles’s, one of those places associated with “the good old customs of our ancestors.” As the few houses of this character that remain are difficult of access, a description of this place may not be uninteresting.