Nature aud Art, May 1, 1867.] 
SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS, SUFFOLK STREET. 
153 
We must, however, now pass on to humorous and mis- 
cellaneous signs, selecting them at random from the curious 
and entertaining volume before us, which, though containing 
notices of nearly 2,000 signs, is still confessedly incomplete. 
The “ Pig - and Whistle ” was an old and favourite one. 
It is figured in the Harleian MSS. (fifteenth century), and 
still lingers at Chester, Macclesfield, Coventry, and other 
old towns. In one of the stalls of Winchester Cathedral, 
is a carving of a sow sitting on her haunches blowing a 
whistle while another plays a fiddle, close by a small porker 
is attentively listening to the maternal performance. A 
good deal of learning has been displayed in endeavouring to 
account for this device, some writers supposing the name to 
be a corruption of the “ Pix and Housel,” or of the “ Pig 
and Wassail.” Others claim for it a Dano-Saxon origin, 
“ Pige-Washael,” “Our Lady’s Salutation.” The Scotch 
also assert it to be their own, pig being a pot and whistle 
a name for small change. Possibly, as Mr. Hotten observes, 
it was after all but a freak of some mediaeval artist, a re- 
mark which may apply equally well to the old Hampshire 
sign, the “ Cat and Fiddle.” Animals in boots appear to 
have been originally used by shoemakers, in Holland, where 
they are still common as signs. One may be seen on a 
tavern in Rotterdam with the following legend : — 
“ In den golaars don ezel zeer kloek. 
Yerkoopt men tobak, brandewyn, en kraplcoek.” 
“ This is the valiant jackass in boots. 
Here sell we tobacco, brandy, and gingerbread.” 
There is a Puss in boots near Dudley, and a Goat in 
boots in Fulham Road, Chelsea. 
The “ Good Woman,” represented by a lady minus her 
head, was a figure much used by oilmen,* and is said to have 
originally depicted some decapitated female martyr, though 
since construed into a satire on the sex. The “Honest 
Lawyer,” a gentleman of the long robe, in a similar pre- 
dicament, is also recorded as existing. “Nobody ” was the 
sign of Trundell a well-known ballad-printer. “No-place” 
may still be found in Plymouth, “ No-where ” on a public- 
house in Norwich, and “ Why-not ” on one at Essington, 
in Staffordshire. The “ Hole in the Wall,” so common in 
* Possibly as having some reference to the Parable of the 
wise and foolish virgins, a favourite subject in the old 
“ mysteries.” 
military towns, was probably a snug recess in the town 
walls, devoted to suttling purposes. It is also said to have 
been a round hole in the wall of the debtors’ prison in the 
Fleet, through which they were permitted to receive alms, 
broken victuals, &c. # The “ Toby Philpot,” the authors 
explain by the following extract from the Gentleman’s 
Magazine, December, 1810, which we commend to the notice 
of lecturers on “total abstinence.” 
“ Died at Ewes farmhouse, Yorkshire, Mr. Paul Parnell, 
farmer, grazier, and maltster, aged 76; who during his life- 
time drunk out of one silver pint mug upwards of .£2,000 
sterling worth of Yorkshire Stingo ; being remarkably 
attached to Stingo, home-brewed, of the best quality. The 
calculation is taken at twopence the cupful. He was the 
bon-vivant whom O’Keefe celebrated in one of his Baccha- 
nalian songs, under the name of ‘ Toby Philpot.’ ” 
Those of our readers who are acquainted with the rural 
parts of the Isle of Wight may have noticed that the “ Bugle” 
is there a common sign with wayside inns, and often 
associated with the figure of a Ball. This Mr. Hotten tells 
us is traceable to the old English word Bugle, applied to 
the wild cattle at one time plentiful in many parts of our 
j Island. The letters of the alphabet from A to Z were, 
forty years back, the sign of a tavern known as the ABC, 
in Clare Market. “Great A” occurs as an inn sign in 
Norfolk. “Little A” was a tobacconist’s in Leadenhall 
Street; Z, the initial of Zinzibar (ginger), was a grocer’s 
sign. We have also the “ Sneezing Cat,” the “ Flying 
Monkey,” the “ Ass in a Bandbox ” (at Nidd, near Knares- 
borough), the “ Hunchbacked Cats ” (at Lille), the “Gaping 
Goose” at Leeds, the “Loving Lamb” at Dudley, the 
“ Cow and Snuffers ” at Llandaff, “ Old Careless ” at Staple- 
ford, “Slow and Easy” at Lostock, “Spite Hall” at 
Brandon, “ Old No ” at Sheffield, the “ Monster,” the 
“ World’s End,” the “ World Upside Down,” the “ Finish,” 
and many more. We must, however, ourselves make a 
finish in commending to the reader’s notice the lines in 
Gay’s “ Trivia,” which are still applicable to many an old- 
fashioned town, both at home and abroad,— 
“ Mark well the signs, for signs remain 
Like trusty landmarks to the walking ti'ain.” 
* The “ Hole in the Wall” is the familiar name for the 
refreshment room in the House of Representatives, at 
W ashington. 
SOCIETY OP BRITISH ARTISTS, SUFFOLK STREET. 
A WRITER in one of the daily journals has given great 
offence to the artists who exhibit in this institution ; 
and they have reason to be offended. It is not the province 
of a critic in art to go at his work like a Red Indian, and 
scalp the feelings of the men whose works he chooses to 
attack. Criticism may be healthy enough without violating 
the laws of good breeding between man and man. It is an 
old saying, that “ all the trees in the forest do not grow 
alike ; ” neither are all exhibitions of equal merit. There 
is only one Royal Academy ; and the Exhibition in Suffolk 
Street does not pretend to be the royal favourite of Tra- 
falgar Square. Still, the place contains some good works, 
and bears evidence of the labour of honest men ; and the 
fact that such men are endeavouring to live by those 
labours, ought to disarm such tomahawk attacks as that to 
which allusion has been made. 
It must be confessed that our ideas of the purpose and 
object of Art are a little uncertain at the present day. The 
principles of Art are quite as loose and unsettled as those 
relating to the doctrines, and rites of the Church, or to the 
constitution of a Reform Bill. It may be possible that 
religion, politics, and art are not unconnected ; Ruskin has 
long held that such is the case, and it must be confessed 
that there is much to favour such an idea. It is this want 
of first principles which makes art-criticism so vague and 
unsatisfactory. Painters paint from the most opposite sets 
of ideas, and critics, praise or condemn from equally con- 
tradictory points of view. Even Ruskin complains, and 
does so with a tendency to wailing, that he cannot restore 
this harmony of thought, which he considers so necessary 
for the full development of painting and architecture. 
When a Ruskin fails, who will attempt to produce cosmos 
from the chaos of our present ideas on art ? If artists 
are to live, they must paint ; and if artists paint, critics 
must give their opinions. The simple conclusion is in 
favour of forbearance. Where there is no infallible canon 
which we all acknowledge, let none of us individually 
dogmatize ; and above all remember, that the painter’s work 
is the bread-and-butter of himself and his children. 
Having no universal church of art whose doctrines 
override everything else, we may be said to derive all the 
advantages which belongs to dissent, in the shape of almost 
infinite variety. Every mind seeks out in Nature its own 
shrine, and there presents through the labour of the mind 
and the hand the devotion of the heart. And our exhi- 
bitions are all illustrations of this diversity of feeling and 
