Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1888-08-31
ORIGIN OF INN SIGNS.
Queer Old Hostelries That Nestle In Ro
mantle Mountain Passes.

nuttr Olu Ahhl -N'n'AN ah AhS
mantle Mountain Passes.
What is the origin of inn signs? The
earliest signs are certainly heraldic.
We have still in many villages the
"So-and-so Arms with the shield of
the lord of the manor emblazoned upon
it, with all its quarterings. Or we have
the Red Lion, or the White Hart, or
the Swan, all either crests or cogniz-
ances of Il family, or OF sovereign or
Queen. The swan sign is said TO date
from Anne of Cloves; the white hart
was the badge of Richard H., and inns
with this sign probably were erected
in that reign, and have retained this
sign unchanged since. We know of
inns under the name OF the Rose,
which, there can be little question,
came into life as hostelries in the time
Of the Yorkists and Lancastrians. The
wheat sheaf was the Burlcigh badge,
the elephant that Of. Beaumont, the
bulls head was u Boleyn cognizance,
the blue boar the badge of
the De Veres, Earls of Oxford,
the green dragon of the Earls OF
Pembroke, the falcon OF the Marquis
of Winchester. 1t does not, however,
follow that the inns that have these
signs date from the periods when, let
us say, Anne Boleyn was Queen, be-
cause they bear the token OF the bulls
head; or from the reign of Queen Eliza
beth, when Burleigh was in power, be-
cause OF the wheat sheaf, for it will not
infrequently be found that they take
their titles and signs from much more
local origin, the coat or ccgnizance Of
the squire who holds the manor.
There was a reason for this-the inn
was originally the place where the true
landlord-that is, the lord of the manor
received his guests, and every trav-
eler was his guest. In Iceland at the
present day there is but one inn at
Reykjavik, the capital, and that is kept
by Dane. The traveller in the island
goes to any farmhouse or parsonage
and is taken in. Indeed, by law a
traveller can not be refused hospitality.
w lltu ne ltdN Co llt IlNllIl AlltlANo q BANo-
ent of money or of something else that
will be valued, but this is present and
not a payment. In many parts of Tyrol
it is much the same. The excursion
list is put up at the priests house. The
writer has been thus received, among
other places, at Heiligkreutg, in the
Oetz Thai.
In the evening the room-the cures
parlor-was filled with peasants who
asked for wine, and were supplied.
When they left they pat money in the
hand of the pastors sister, while he,
smoking his pipe, looked out of tho
window. When the writer left next
morning the same farce was enacted.
Farther up the same valley is Vent,
where again the cure receives travellers
and his sister receives the payment, but
there definite charge is made, but at
Heiligkreutz what was given was ac-
copied as present
The priests who entertain do not, OF
course, hang up signs over their doors.
The pastor is supposed to be given to
hospitality, and would give of his all
freely and cheerfully il he could afford
it, but Of late years rs travellers have
become more numerous, his pittance
has become smaller, so that his hos
pitality can no longer be gratuitous.
In the old romances of chivalry We
read of travellers always seeking tho
castle of some Knight and asking, al
most demanding, lodging and enter
tainment.- COyHhiH Magazine.