L O N 
etfurfe was (till continued ; for how was it to be known, by- 
travellers coming from Vienna, or from Hungary or Bo¬ 
hemia, that a certain inn-keeper at Caflel had altered his 
fign ? “ Honour and wealth, what are ye but a name !” 
To the inn, therefore, which was named the Grey Afs, they 
Bill went. What could the defected inn-keeper do ?— 
To deface the fine portrait of his mafier would have been 
high-treafon, yet lofing his cuftomers was downright flarv- 
ing. In this cruel dilemma he dreamt of a new fcheme, 
and had it executed : the portrait was preferved ; but 
he wrote under it, “ This is the real original Grey Afs." 
The fame rivalry for figns exifted in London, and indeed 
fgn-paintmg became an important trade. Harp-alley was 
the common mart for them, where they could be bought 
from five {hillings to five pounds. In the year 1743, a 
moll beautiful reprefentation of “ good Queen Befs” hung 
in Ludgate-ftreet to the gaping admiration of the paffen-"« 
gets ; and the Three Pigeons in the fame Hreet is ltill re¬ 
membered. No expenfe was grudged for thefe orna¬ 
ments ; and indeed there was fuch a profufion of gold 
every where, that a wag wittily remarked at the time, that 
fign-painters feemed to polTefs the faculty of Midas, iince 
they turned every thing they touched into gold. The 
Golden Crow n, the Golden Sugar Loaf, the Golden Lea¬ 
ther Bottle, and even the Golden Half-moon, were to be 
gazed at every where. 
The devices of or upon figns were often allufive to the 
trade of the houfe.—A cook of the name of Lebec (the 
beak), and another of the fame proteffion of the name of 
Brawn, hung their own effigies over their fliops, in allufion 
to their calling. One of thofe punning figns exhibited 
the head of Henry VIII. a fiffi, and a white ball, becaufe 
the name of the mafter below was Henry Whiting. The 
Swan, with one or two necks, was a pun brought from 
France, where the word Cygne, a fwan, founds like that of 
Signe, a fign. They had there a fwan with a crofs, which 
they called Le Signe de la Croix, “the Sign of the Crofs.” 
Yet, fome one will alk, how' do you account for the two 
necks bellowed on the fwan ? This Swan, or Sign, of the Crofs, 
had a crofs entwined with his neck; and, at the time of 
the reformation, the popifh figure of the crofs having been 
brufhed away, the painter twitted another neck in its 
ltead. The Lqfl, a very common fign for a public-houfe, 
and now generally underftood to be an invitation to fhoe- 
makers, or a defignation that fhoemakers frequent it, ori¬ 
ginated from fome publican writing over his door “This 
is the Lall;” viz. the laft houfe in the Hreet or town where 
you can get any thing to eat or drink; with an inuendo, 
that, if you do not Hop here, you run rifk of dining with 
duke Humphrey. This trick was not confined to Lon¬ 
don, for we recollect to have feen in feveral towns of 
France, public-houfes, or cabarets, with a fign exhibiting 
the motley group of a He-goat, an Owl, and a Mound, or 
globe. To guels what it meant was not an eafy thing: 
but, placing the French words, Bouc, “a he-goat,” Due, 
‘‘an horned owl,” and Monde, “a tnound,” one after an¬ 
other, it was then difeovered that it fignified Le Bout du 
Monde, or “the World's End.” The cunning publican 
infinuating by his enigmatical device, that his houfe was 
the lajl on the road. 
Many public-houfes in London and in the country, 
have on the door-poHs or windows leveral fquares of dif¬ 
ferent colours, like a draught-board 5 and, if they have no 
other fign, this ferves for one, and is called the Chequers. 
This practice originated from the earl of Warren, whofe 
arms were “ checque or and blue,” having the difpofal of 
licenles for houfes of that defeription.—The Angel, mean¬ 
ing “a meffienger,” fuited, as a fign, the places of refort 
for carriers and errand-men. We fliould be forry tofup- 
pofe that th zGaofeand Gridiron alluded to the faint who buf¬ 
fered martyrdom on that culinary utenlil; yet we doubt 
not but the Flower-pot , in Bilhopfgate-flreet, preferves 
fome remains of “ the Annunciation ;” the Virgin being 
generally painted with a vafe replete with lilies and other 
i> O n. in 
flowers. The tranfient blaftof fuperftition, under the de¬ 
nomination of puritanifm, blew off the Virgin and the An¬ 
gel, and permitted the lefs-ohnoxious noiegay to remain. 
On the eve of days confecrated to the Virgin Mary, an¬ 
ciently in this, and even now in foreign countries, her 
Hatties were adorned with garlands ot flowers, and fur- 
rounded with wax tapers. A ierenade with mufical in- 
Hruments ufed to clofe the religious fcene at the corner of 
the Hreet. The houl'e was called either the Annunciation 
or the Salutation. 
We fhall mention a few more punning figns.—The 
Bull and Mouth is a corruption of Boulogn Mouth. The 
Bear was a pun for Beer ; the Brown Bear for Brown foul 
Beer ; and, when it appeared with a bunch of grapes in 
its mouth, it was a lure fign that, befides malt-liquor, 
wine was fold in the lioufe. 
The Bell Savage has been refolved into the pun of a 
wild man, or lavage, flriking on a bell. If we make it 
feminine. Belle Sauvage, it means “ a cruel fair;” and 
fome think it was merely a contra&ion of Arabella Savage, 
the name of the landlady. But Belle Sauvage fignifies all'o 
a wild woman ; and in conformity with this is the account- 
given in the Spectator, No. 28. who derives it from a molt 
beautiful woman deferibed in an old French romance as 
being found in a wildernel's in a lavage Hate. The ltory 
and its poetical recitation are well-known there, and the 
tune is of great fweetnefs and fimplicity. The fluff is re¬ 
lated in this manner : Genevieve, wife to one of tire an¬ 
cient dukes of Brabant, having refiHed the infult of the 
Heward, was accufed by him of adultery. She was con¬ 
demned to death by herhulband; but found means to ef- 
cape with her child, and ran to the forefl des Ardennes, 
where fhe concealed herfelf and brought up her little boy 
by the help of a hind, whom, wondrous to tell! Ihe had 
io tamed as to make her fuckle the infant whofe natural 
food had been dried up by grief and want of fuitable 
nourilhment. Seven years after her difappearance the 
Heward died, having firfl made a full confeffion of his 
guilt; and, not long after, the duke, following the hind 
whom he had pierced with an arrow, diicovered his in¬ 
nocent conlort, who was then covered entirely with her 
hair, and in a wild Itate. The romance to which this gave 
occafion dates of the 15th century ; and is, in Hyle, limi- 
la-" to our Chevy Chace. But to come from romance to 
liiltory ; it appears by forrie ancient records, that the eredfioa 
which occupied the ground on which this inn now Hands 
was called La Belle Savoyarde, alluding perhaps to Eleanor 
queen of Henry III. who was a daughter of the count of Savoy. 
The Speftator mentions another fign, “ The Cat and the 
Fiddle,” in which he finds a conceit; perhaps between, 
the firings of the inltrument and the guts of the qua¬ 
druped, or, more likely, between the mewings of Gri¬ 
malkin and the ear-torturing ferapings of a bad fiddler.. 
The Three Nuns and a Hare was a common fign in his 
time ; the Three Nuns remain to this day by the Seven Dials, 
but Pujs has run away.—He was fcandalized at the fign of 
a Goat over the door of 3.perfumer, and at the French King"s 
Head (alas ! was it a fort ot prognofiication ?) at a fword- 
cutlef s ; but he laughs heartily at a Frenchman, who, near 
Charing Crofs, hoilted for his lign a Punch-bowl, and Two, 
Angels iqueezing a lemon into it. The Spectator does not 
give us the key ot this curious device; but we may eafily 
conceive that the tafeful foreigner, who had feldom,, if 
ever, drunk good punch in his own country, found it 
here fo heavenly a liquor, that he thought angels mult 
have had a hand in the making of it. 
The Sun, the Riling Sun, owes its blazing appearance 
on lign-poits to the alluding motto, which was generally, 
“ The belt drink (under tlie Sun.”) In the year 1739* 
there was on the Hounllow road a little alehoule, with 
this moving inlcription •„ “ Poor Jack Hriving to live ;” 
and we doubt not but the unaffuming motto drew cuf¬ 
tomers to the tap-room.—The following curious inferip- 
tion is at the fign of the Snail in the King’s. Road ; 
The 
