New Britain herald., 1917-11-13
ENGLISH INN SIGNS.
Invariably Derived from Some His -orical Event-They Are Famous
 in S0rlu and Story.
(Springfield Republican,


 (springfeld Republican,
 There are thousands of inns scat tered throughout the British Isles inns which have existed for centuries past as the places of call for the stage coach, which have marked the way along well-known routes, and have been welcomed as houses of rest along the less frequented ones. These old time hotels have come down to posterity, altered perhaps in char acter and appearance, but still relics of the past, with their quaint names and still quainter signs.
 In London alone there are records of countless inns or taverns, numbers of which are now extinct or rebuilt to meet the needs of the hour. The old mail coaches journeying along the Great North road used unfailing- ly, for the benefit of their passengers, to call at the Angel and the Peacock inns at Islington, with their low, old fashioned, wainscotted parlors, while not far away, on Pentonville Hill, was the Belvedere Tavern, famous for many years on account of it's debating society, at which many \ prominent politicians enjoyed their first orator ical triumphs.
 One of the most ancient inns in the metropolis is the Bricklayers' Arms Inn, at the corner of Tower Bridge road. This was recently rebuilt, but it's name dates back some 800 years. At Lud gate Circus is the Belle Sauv- age Inn, supposed to have been so named in honor of the Indian prin- cess Pocahontas, who rescued Capt. John Smith, time governor of Virginia. An inn of historical inn portance, the premises of which have now been converted into a railway booking office. was the George and Blue Boar, which used to stand at High Holborn, and was the last , house of cal1'' for criminals on their 1; way to Tyburn. It is also related that i during the great rebellion a messen- 1, ger was found there carrying a let 1 ter from Charles l.. in which the king ; expressed his intention of having Cromwell and 1reton executed, and the discovery of this information decided his would-be victims to have the sen- tence visited on Charles himself.
 One of the most famous of the ancient London inns Is the Mother Red Cap Inn at Camden town, the signboard of which used to consist of the portrait of an old woman with scarlet capulet or hood covering her head and shoulders. The Old Bell Inn |, and Oxford Arms used to be in War wick Lane. One of the most TO- nowned old coaching houses was the White Horse Inn in Fetter Lane
 Many inns have been written of in literature. Readers of Dickens, the world over, know that Sam Weller was originally Boots at the White Hart Inn in the borough, and Chau- ,er rates that the Tabard Inn at Southwark of which little more than he name now remains was the meet ng place of his Canterbury Pilgrims on their road to the shrine of Thomas | Becket.
 Among the quaintest of inn signs Ire those of ''The Angel and Steel ards" sym mbolizing Justice holding Ter scales; "The Bull and Bedpost," indicating a bull fastened to stake { o be baited; and "The Black Sack" : moving an old leathern drinking cup. Various other signs are: The Cut 1 ers' company, The Elephant and castle"; the Glovers' company. "The Rams Head'; the Bakers company, , The Wheat sheaf''; the stationers' company, "The Angel and Trumpet" md so on for many more. while other 1 igns are of interesting origin, such 1 as: 'The GoatE' which represents t