Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-04-03

Used an the OIden Times Even Now
Some Queer Ones May BE Seen tn Old
London Town Their PeeuIiarities
Explained by . student OF Old
Things.
Nowadays the great commercial COM
nunity pays but little attention to the
trading legend which, like the noble
mans armorial bearings, was once upon
time necessary part of every store
keepers stock in trade. BARRIERS and
pawnbrokers still, it is true, continue to
exhibit their well known symbols-the
striped pole and the three golden balls I;
and in addition to these, which still hold
their own on this side of the Atlantic, the
curious notices and devices which COM
monty distinguish the public houses and
gin palaces in England are familiar to
every visitor to that country. But these
are scattered remnants of a custom
which, not so very long ago, was almost
universal. In the good old days, when
few people could read or write, and when
the modern system of numbering the
houses in the street was a convenience as
yet undreamed of by our uninventive
race, the sign board fiourished in all its
glory, and it will be readily understood
that in those times it had far more inn
portant part to play than would ever be
assigned to it in our own.
Reference has just been made to Eng
lish public house Tor saloon barr signs,
which are interesting because they re-
tain so much of the old world flavor
Everyone who has amused himself by
making even a cursory examination of
these stranded anachronisms during a
stroll through some of the old thorough
fares of London, or has learned some
thing of their character in the pages of
Dickens or Thackeray, must have been
struck again and again by the extraordi-
nary and often entirely meaningless COM
binations of ideas which are presented by
them. AS we turn back to their pro-
genitors in the tradesmen's tokens of the
past we find the same cause for amuse-
ment and surprise. What, for instance,
can be the possible significance of "The
Lamb and Anchor?" Why should bull
be associated with gate, in the common
sign of The Bull and Cater" Where is
there any conceivable connection between
an elephant and castle, which yet
flourish together over one of the most
famous taverns in the English metropo-
lis?-between nun and three hares?-
between a goat and compasses? What
law could have governed the introduction
of such anomalous Inscriptions as "The
George and Cannon?" or @The Green
MANI" or "The Iron Devil Thepuzzles
presented to us in these quaint and curl
Gus compounds struck an observant
versifier of the last century, who thus
gives vent to his astonishment:
I'm amazed at the signs
As pass through the town;
see the odd mixture
A magpie and crown;
The whale and the crow;
The razor and hen;
The leg and seven stars;
The axe and the bottle;
The tun and the lutte;
The eagle and child;
The shovel and boot.
Truly, such @odd mixtures must at
first sight seem devoid of any sort of
meaning; and it is only as we delve
back into the past that we become aware
that their apparent absurdity and ex-
travagance may be very easily explained.
There are, indeed, several ways in
which these strange associations have
been brought about. For example. when
a young tradesman decided to start busi-
ness on his own account he frequently
followed the common practice of adding
las kind of recommendation his late
masters sign to that which he himself
adopted-just as to-day it is not unusual
u4o
under his own name the fact that he
was late with Brown & Co." In this
way we may account for such complex
tokens as the Three Nuns and a Hare,
above referred to, and others of equal
incongruity.
Again, similar result was brought
about when tradesnan, removing from
one place of business to another, adopted,
as he very often did, the sign of the new
establishment in addition to that which
he had chosen for his own. Thus we
read that one Anthony Wilton, who had
formerly traded under the sign of the
Screen Cross, removed to house al
ready known by the motto of the Gross
Keys, and thenceforth carried on bus
iness under the double sign Of 4Thc
Green Cross and Cross Keys. In the
Daily Courdnt for November II, 171S,
there is an advertisement reading:
Thomas Blackall and Francis ives.
mercers, are removed from the Seven
Stars in Ludgate Hill, to the Black Lion
and Seven Stars over the way"
Thus so wild and senseless an associa-
tion as lion and seven stars becomes ex-
plicable; and, of course, there was no
limit to the number and oddness of the
combinations thus produced.
A third and very frequent source of
gnch curiosities as are now referred TO ia
70 be sought in the mistakes and corrup-
dons OF the ignorant popuIace of former
times. As there were no inscriptions
under the various signs to show what
they were really intended to represent,
and as they were, as rule, very rudely
painted, it was often enough matter Of
no small difficulty to decide upon their
actual meaning. Hence arose numerous
errors. Moreover. in the course of time
the original significance of the sign was
often entirely lost under the corrupted
pronunciation which they had acquired
in being passed from mouth to mouth.
Many OF the most puzzling devices still
In use as public house signs in England
are to be explained by reference to such
c0nuptions. Thus the @Bull and Gate"
is really the Boulogne Gate: the @Goak