Dec. 24. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Bradford : 



" Who lives here? who do yoii think? 

 Major Lister : give him a drink. 

 Give him a drink — for why ? 

 Because, when he's sweeping. 

 He's always dry." 



" John Thompson doth live here, 

 He sweeps your chimney not too dear. 

 And if your chimney should get on fire, 

 He puts it out at your desire. 

 Sweep that chimney clean. 

 And then come down and drink." 



The public-houses to which the above are ap- 

 pended are kept by sweeps. 



" Call here, my boy, if you are dry. 

 The fault's in you, and not in I. 

 If Robin Hood from home is gone. 

 Step in and drink with Little John." 



The name of the public-house is " The Robin 

 Hood." 



Over another tavern door I noticed the fol- 

 lowing very pithy and brief sentence : 



" Tobacco given away to-morrow." 



Charles Wilmson. 

 Bradford, Yorkshire. 



A sign at Newhouse, a small public-house on 

 Dartmoor, hard by a rabbit-warren, on the road- 

 side leading from Moreton to Tavistock, six miles 

 from the former town. John Roberts was the 

 worthy landlord some considerable time since. It 

 ran thus : 



" John Roberts lives here. 



Sells brandy and beer, 



Your spirits to cheer ; 



And should you want meat, 



To make up the treat. 



There be rabbits to eat." 



(A verbatim copy.) 



A swinging sign on the front of a public-house 

 on the borders of Dartmoor could once boast of 

 the following quaint invitations. 



The side presented to view, prior to entering 

 the wild waste, underneath a rude painting of a 

 weary traveller in a storm, had the following rude 

 couplet : 



" Before the wild moor you venture to pass, 

 Pray step within and take a glass." 



The attempt at poetry on the reverse side, be- 

 low a highly-coloured daub representing a Christ- 

 inas fire on the hearth, surrounded by a goodly 

 band of jolly fellows, read thus : 



" Now that the bleak moor you've safely got over. 

 Do stop a while, your spirits to recover." 



Over the door of a spirit and beer shop at the 

 lower end of Market or High Street, Plymouth, 



may be seen the following very salutary and dis- 

 interested piece of advice. It is printed in the 

 triangle formed by the spread of a gigantic pair of 

 compasses, which gives name to the house : 



" Keep within compass, 

 And then you'll be sure, 

 To avoid many troubles. 

 That others endure." 



The house is located near the quay ; and it is 

 devoutly to be wished that the jolly tars of the 

 neighbourhood, who make it a constant place of 

 resort, would profit by its wise counsel. H. H. H. 



There Is (or was some two or three years since) 

 at Coopersale, in Essex, a sign-board in front of 

 the " Queen Victoria" (only a beer-house by the 

 way), with these lines : 



" The Queen some day. 



May pass this way. 

 And see our Tom and Jerry j 



Perhaps she'll stop. 



And stand a drop. 

 To make her subjects merry." 



On the other side are some different lines, which 

 I forget. Alexander Andrews. 



1. At Overseal, Leicestershire : 



" Robin Hood is 

 Dead and gone : 

 Pray call, and drink 

 With Little John." 



2. The sign of " The Bee Hive," in Birmingham 

 and other places : 



" Within this Hive, we're all alive, 

 Good liquor makes us funny : 

 If you are dry, step in and try. 

 The flavour of our honey." 



3. The sign of" The Gate" (of frequent occur- 

 rence) : 



" The Gate hangs well, 

 And hinders none ; 

 Refresh and pay. 

 And travel on." 



T. H. Keeslet, B.A. 



Audlem, Nantwich. 



In King Street, Norwich, at the sign of "The 

 Waterman," kept by a man who is a barber, and 

 over whose door is the pole, are these lines : 



" Roam not from pole to pole. 

 But step in here ; 

 Where nought exceeds the shaving. 

 But the beer." 



J. L. S. 



There used to be at a small roadside inn, be- 

 tween Wetherby and Borobridge (Yorkshire), at 

 a place called Ninivy, the following inscription ; 



