I shall be happy to send Alphege more instances, or to answer any conjectures.
G. W. Thornbury.
A century ago, when the houses in streets were unnumbered, they were distinguished by sign-boards. The chemist had the dragon (some astrological device); the pawnbroker the three golden pills, the arms of the Medici and Lombardy, as the descendant of the ancient bankers of England; the barber-chirurgeon the pole for the wig, and the parti-coloured ribands to bind up the patient's wounds after blood-letting; the haberdasher and wool-draper the golden fleece; the tobacconist the snuff-taking Highlander; the vintner the bunch of grapes and ivy-bush; and the Church and State bookseller the Bible and crown. The Crusaders brought in the signs of the Saracen's Head, the Turk's Head, and the Golden Cross. Near the church were found the Lamb and Flag, The Bell, the Cock of St. Peter, the Maiden's Head, and the Salutation of St. Mary. The Chequers commemorated the licence granted by the Earls of Arundel, or Lords Warrenne. The Blue Boar was the cognizance of the House of Oxford (and so The Talbots, The Bears, White Lions, &c. may usually be reasonably referred to the supporters of the arms of noble families, whose tenants the tavern landlords were). The Bull and Mouth, the hostelry of the voyager to Boulogne Harbour. The Castle, The Spread Eagle, and The Globe (Alphonso's), were probably adopted from the arms of Spain, Germany, and Portugal, by inns which were the resort of merchants from those countries. The Belle Sauvage recalled some show of the day; the St. George and Dragon commemorated the badge of the Garter, the Rose and Fleur-de-Lys, the Tudors; The Bull, The Falcon,
and Plume of Feathers, Edward IV.; the Swan and Antelope were the arms of Henry V.; the chained or White Hart of Richard II.; the Sun and Boar of King Richard III.; the Greyhound and Green Dragon of Henry VII. The Bag o' Nails disguised the former Bacchanals; the Cat and Fiddle the Caton Fidele; the Goat and Compasses was the rebus of the Puritan motto "God encompasseth us." The Swan with Two Nicks represented the Thames swans, so marked on their bills under the "conservatory" of the Goldsmiths' Company. The Cocoa Tree and Thatched House tell their own tale; so the Coach and Horses, reminding us of the times when the superior inns were the only posting-houses, in distinction to such as bore the sign of the Pack-Horse. The Fox and Goose denoted the games played within; the country inn, the Hare and Hounds, the vicinity of a sporting squire.
Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.
Alphege will find some information on this subject in Lower's Curiosities of Heraldry, The Beaufoy Tokens (printed by the Corporation of London), and the Journal of the Archæological Association for April, 1853.
William Kelly.
Leicester.
There are a series of articles on this subject in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxxviii., parts i. and ii., and vol. lxxxix. parts i. and ii. Taylor the Water-poet wrote A Catalogue of Memorable Places and Taverns within Ten Shires of England, London, 1636, 8vo. Much information will also be found in Akerman's Tokens, and Burn's Catalogue of the Beaufoy Cabinet.
Zeus.