71 



as to contain a large draught of liquor, the company would be very 

 liable by this method to get drunk, especially when if they drank 

 short of the pin or beyond it, they were obliged to drink again. 

 The old saying, "taking him down a peg," probably owes its origin 

 to the above custom. 



At Penrith we have another instance where the original meaning 

 has been probably altered in the signboard of the "Bell and 

 Bullock" inn of that town. If we seek for a connection between a 

 bell and a bullock it is difficult to find any satisfactory explanation. 

 It is thought by some they have been united simply on account of 

 alliteration ; but the more probable reason is that the original sign 

 was " Bell and Book," in days when the inhabitants of Penrith 

 took oath by "bell, book, and candle." After Henry VIII. 

 captured Boulogne harbour, "Boulogne Mouth" became a popular 

 sign. It soon became corrupted into "Bull and Mouth," and 

 there are two inns in London at the present day bearing that sign, 

 and one in Leeds. Boulogne gates, which were ordered to be 

 taken away by Henry VIIL, also became a public-house sign, 

 which was in time altered to "Bull and Gate" in the seventeenth 

 century, There was a noted house in Holborn with this sign at 

 that time. Readers of Fielding may remember this was the house 

 where his hero, Tom Jones, put up on his arrival in London. 



Great changes have taken place in modern times in regard to 

 taverns. Formerly they were made the general places of resort by 

 men of rank and genius, representatives of the "wit and wisdom" 

 of the kingdom. The "Bear's Head" is celebrated as being the 

 place where Henry V., when Prince of Wales, revelled with Falstaff 

 and all the merry men of Eastcheap. The celebrated club at the 

 "Mermaid" originated with Sir Walter Raleigh; and, as Mr. 

 Gififord has truly observed, combined more talent and genius 

 perhaps than ever met together before or since. " Here for many 

 years regularly repaired Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont, 

 Fletcher, Selden, Cotton, Carew, Martin, Donne, and many others 

 whose names even at this distant period call up a mingled feeling 

 of reverence and respect. Here in the full flow and confidence of 

 friendship, 'the lively and interesting wit combats,' as Fuller calls 



