Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-01-10
ROMANCE OF INN SIGNS.
Borne of the Quaint Legends Still to
Be Found In England.

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 a 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 variation OF the
better known sign of the Silent Wo-
man, In which headless woman is
represented. The Three Compasses is
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 q corruption Of the puritanical
phrase "God encompasseth u.s." 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 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 fdele, 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 it must have
lost its original appellation very early,
for in 1859 we find Henry Carr, signe
of the Cate and Fidle in the Old
Chaunge.' The Bull and Gate, In
HoIborn. at which Tom Jones alighted
when he first came to London, proba-
bly, took its name from BOulogne Gate.
The Bull and Mouth-a frequent sign
is q corruption of Boulogne Mouth,
and both no doubt were intended as
compliments to Henry VIII, who took
Boulogne in 1914. An inn at LANDAU
once had for It's sign the Cock. But,
trade getting rather depressed, the
landlord thought he would try the ef-
feet of a new sign. He accordingly
put up a 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 this change and straight
way altered the sign Of his inn to the
Cock, with good results. Landlord
No. 1, hearing Of this, was greatly ex'
asperated, and by way Of checkmatine
his adversary he had painted up un
der the bishops portrait, "This Is the
Old Cockw -.
About a mile outside the little VII
. lage of Tintwistle is an inn bearing
the sign the Shepherd Is a Yer!
Quiet Man. A former tenant OF thu
house, which is opposite the lower emf
of Torside reservoir Of the Mancheste
waterworks, was Joseph Brownhill
known as the Shepherd of Woodhead
He died in 1899, and his portrait still
! hangs in the front room Of the Inn
. which is locally known as the Guile
Shepherd. This inn can be seen fror
} the Great Central main line and Is tn
s property of Lord Tollemache OF He
o mingham. Near Prestwich Is tn
Same Yet. This was formerly know
as the Seven Stars, but bygone lan(
q lord decided to have his sign repaintet
q When the painters asked what the
were to put on the board he replies
: "Same yet" And they took him
r his word.
At Old Turnford, In Worcestershire
there is a sign which represents n
l gro in a tub. Two women In whi'
e aprons and caps are endeavoring
scrub him white, the whole represen
ing the Labor In Vain. Yet anothe
It in the main street Of Dudley, has II
|. q sign the Round Of Beef, while som
where in the south Of England Is II
\ Devil and Bag O. Nails. And with th'
e I feel 1 must close my list.-P. L.
g Weekly.