34 LEONARD WHEATCROKT, OK ASHOVER. 



Despite the marshalling of the arms of the Company of Mer- 

 chant Taylors, Leonard ventures a " difference."' At the end 

 of his MS. is a shield with bearings under which he has written 

 " My Coate of Amies." 



On the field is pourtrayed a yard wand for a bend sinister 

 between a needle, thimble, and bodkin on the dexter side, 

 and a smoothing iron, scissors, and pressing board on the 

 other, with a chief fretty, perhaps meant for a display of 

 " cross-stitch." 



" Here is my yarde wand, and my neeld (needle), 

 My pressing iron to make stuff yield. 

 Here are my shears of silver pure, 

 A golden thimble too, Tm sure. 

 My liodkin is not far behind. 

 And thus my coate of amies is lined." 



As Leonard was the landlord or " mine host " of the " Hand 

 and Shears," we can hardly wonder at the frequent allusions 

 to " health drinking," " bottled ale," and so forth, nor can we 

 think it unreasonable that he should dilate on the merits of 

 his liquor. He was " in the business" and, no doubt, with 

 his songs and varied accomplishments, contributed largely to 

 the entertainment of his guests and the "good of the house." 

 The " Shears " was originally a tailors sign, though, like most 

 other trade emblems, it had become common in the seventeenth 

 century.* 



If this sign of the alehouse at Ashover was not of Leonard's 

 adoption, it would almost indicate that he followed the occupa- 

 tion of his forefathers, as was usually the case in country places. 

 His eldest son, Leonard, was in London in 1693, and may have 

 been a tailor, but Titus, the youngest son, who succeeded his 

 father as clerk, was apparently (from the inventory of tools in 



* The "Hand and Shears "in C'loth Fair, Smithfield, played an important 

 part at the opening of Bartholomew Fair. The first irregular proclamation 

 of this fair was for many years made by a company of tailors, who met the 

 night before the legal proclamation at the Hand and Shears, elected a chair- 

 man, and, as the clock struck twelve, went out into Cloth Fair, each -with a 

 pair of shears in /ns haitd.^' — History flf Siqnhoards, p. 358, J. C. Hotton. 



