The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1908-01-01
ROMANCE OF INN SIGNS.
Some Of the Quaint Legends Still to
Be Found In England.


There would, indeed, seem to be no
limit to the number Of quaint inn
signs In England. At Kings Lynn, In
Norfolk, for instance, Is to be seen the
Honest Lawyer. An old painting is
fastened to the wall depicting n law
yer carrying his head in his hand, i'm
plying, of course, that no lawyer is
honest while his head remains on his
shoulders. This is a variation of the
better known sign of the Silent Wo-
man, In which n headless woman Is
represented. The Three Compasses is a
frequent sign on French, German and
Dutch as well as English inns. The
inn of that name in Grosvenor row,
Pimlico, was formerly called the Goat
and Compasses.
Others have suggested that the sign
is n corruption of the purltanical
phrase God encompasseth us" The
goat, however, may have been the
original sign, to which mine host add
ed his Masonic emblem of the com
passes-a likely explanation, seeing
that there is n Salmon and Compasses
at Peterborough.
The sign of the Cat and the Fiddle
Is supposed to have originated with
the nursery rhyme:
Hey diddle diddle,
The cat and the fiddle.
But other explanations have been Of
fered. One is that it may have orig
mated with certain Cation idele, a
stanch Protestant, in the reign of
Queen Mary, and only have been
changed Into the cat and fiddle by cor
ruption. If this is so 1t must have
lost It's original appcllation very early,
for In 1850 we find "IIcnry Carr, signe
of the Cate and Fidle I'm the Old
Chaunge." The Bull and Gate. i'm
HolbOrn, at which Tom Jones alightcd
when he first came to London. Droba-
bly, took It's name from Boulogne Gate.
The Bull and Mouth-a frequent sign
Is q corruption OF Roulogne Mouth,
and both no doubt were intended as
compliments to Henry VIII, who took
Boulognc in 1914. An inn at LANDAU
once had for its sign the Cock. But,
trade getting rather depressed, the
landlord thought he would try the eff
feet Of a new sign. He accordingly
put up Il portrait of the bishop of
LANDAU and called the house by that
name. a rival In the neighborhood
thought he saw his way to make fresh
customers by his change and straight
way altered the sign of his inn to the
Cock, with good results. Landlord
No. I, hearing Of this, was greatly ex-
asperated, and by way of checkmating
his adversary he had painted up I'M
der the bishops portrait, "This is the
Old Cock!'
About n mile outside the little vii
lage Of Tintwistle is an inn bearing
the sign the Shepherd Is n Very
Quiet Man. A former tenant Of the
house, which is opposite the lower end
of Torside reservoir of the Manchester
watcrworks, was Joseph Brownhill,
known as the Shepherd of Woodhead.
He died in 1880, and his portrait still
hangs in the front room of the inn,
which is locally known as the Quiet
Shepherd. This inn can be seen from
the Great Central main line and is the
property of Lord Tollemache of Hell
mingham. Near Prestwich is the
Same Yet. This was formerly known
as the Seven Stars, but q bygone land
lord decided to have his sign reprinted.
When the painters asked what they
were to put on the board he replied,
Same yet" And they took him mt
his word.
At Old Turnford, in Worcestershire,
there is Il sign which represents a ne
gro in n tub. Two women in white
aprons and caps are e~ndeavoring to
scrub him white, the whole represent
ing the Labor In Vain. Yet another,
In the main street of Dudley, has for
n sign the Round of Beef, while some
where in the south of England is the
Devil and Bag o. Nails. And with that
Weekly.