ns 
LON 
The (hall is flow, 
And I am low ! 
What d’ye think ?— 
Pray flop and drink. 
This fort of dialogical invitation, we remember to have 
met with often in Picardy and Normandy, in the road to 
Paris. To fave travellers the trouble even of thinking, 
the publican, or cabaretier, has in large letters, not always 
very correftly fpelt, thefe words : Oil irons-nous ? — Entrcns 
ici — Chez Pierre Le lloux, &c. — “ Where (hall we go ? Let’s 
an here, See. &c.” 
The following couplet was very common under fign- 
pofts eighty years ago : 
Drink here and drown all forrow ; 
Pay to day, and trull to-morrow. 
A caution of fome import to feveral ambulant tipplers. 
The Pope’s Head and Cardinal’s Hat taverns, in Corn- 
hill, date a century at lealt before the reformation ; for 
Stow mentions them both as exifting at the time of Henry 
VI. He fays that “at that time the wine-drawer of the 
Pope’s Head tavern (Handing without door in the High- 
flreet) ufed to fell a pint of wine fora penny, with bread 
allowed free.” 
The Magpye and Stump, is a manifefl invitation to 
good fellows to walk in, and, their elbow “ leaning on 
the beechen table,” to chatter away as the well-known 
bird does on the Hump of a tree.—The Dolphin is of a 
very ancient date, as ancient perhaps as the year 1213, 
when Louis, Dauphin of France, was invited over to Eng¬ 
land : we have feen, in p. 63 of this article, that Louis 
and the Londoners were good friends to the time of his 
■departure. Perhaps, however, this fign is connefted with 
the proverb, “ He drinks like a fifh and a fort of Simu¬ 
lating addrefs to the cuftomer ; an invitation to come in 
and drink as fifties do ; without harm and without cealing. 
—The Mermaid may have emerged out of the fame con¬ 
ceit.—The Saracen’s Head reminds us of the crufades; 
and the Blue-coat-Boy of Edward VI. and his munificent 
foundation. The Pewter Platter, Bunch of Grapes, and 
Bufli, may range under the invitatorial figns. 
It appears that, when a man married a woman who 
lived under a fign, he adopted and impaled the device, as 
we do coats of arms; hence the heterogeneous compounds 
which we often remark in the’remains of that ancient 
cuflom—as the Kings and Keys, Cat and Bagpipes, Cow 
and Snuffers, Sec. Sec. 
A very ingenious author, in an effay inferted in the 
Gentleman’s and London Magazines for the year 1738, 
obferves, that “ whoever takes notice of the figns in Eng¬ 
land, will find that they all, or nearly all, tend to exem¬ 
plify national bravery ; and that he who contrives the 
molt heroic fign is fure of moll cuftom. Some hang out 
the heads of great commanders, fuch as Monk, Marlbo¬ 
rough, or Ormond ; others exhibit the machines and re- 
quifites of war, as Ships, Guns, Cannons, and Callles. 
The very fgn, or, to fpeak more properly, (for Jignutn, 
from which we derived fgn, means in Latin the warlike 
ftandard, the colours, of a regiment or legion,) the arms of 
England, difplay the undaunted temper of the people : 
the Lion, the Unicorn, and the J-Iorle, lately added to 
thet|uaitenngs.” 5 
This leads us to fpeak of the badges of princes or Hates 
which have been ufed as figns. Thus, the Falcon was 
the badge of Edward III. the White Hart, with a ducal 
coronet and chain or, alluded to Richard II. the Blue Boar 
to'Richard III. the Swan to Henry IV. two Ofirich-feathers 
to Henry VI. the Sun to Edward IV. the Black Bull to the 
fame; the Red Role was the badge of the houfe of Lan- 
cafter, the White Rofe difiinguifhed that of York; the 
Greyhound was the fymbcl adopted by Henry VII. the 
■Royal Oak reminds us of Charles II. and the White Horfe, 
• being the, badge of the electorate of Hanover, is ufed, as 
well as the George, in compliment to the prefent reign¬ 
ing family.. 
DON. 
Near Drury-lane, fvas a public houfe with the fign 0$ 
the Queen of Bohemia’s Head ; a fort of immortality, 
fays Pennant, given by the heroic William lord Craven 
to his admired miHrefs, whofe battles he firH fought, ani¬ 
mated by love and duty.—The fame author mentions the 
Falcon near St. Bride’s church, as being the fign of Wyn- 
kyn de Worde’s houfe, or inn ; and adds, that he printed 
his “ Frutye of Times” at the fign of the Sonne. 
The Dragon has been adopted as a fign by fome Welfh 
publican in commemoration of his Cambrian origin, the 
dragon being a badge of the principality of Wales.—The- 
Green Dragon may allude to the event related under the 
article Knighthood, vol. xi. p. 793. and, perhaps, took 
its Ration over the door of fome inn in the neighbour¬ 
hood of the houfes belonging to the knights of St. John 
of Jerufalem. There is in Bifhopfgate-ltreet a molt ex¬ 
cellent carving of this fabulous animal, in a very fpirited 
attitude, at the bottom of the yard of an inn well known 
by that name.—The Goat in Jackboots feems to be alfo 
of Welfh origin. 
The Dun Cow reminds us of an old llory of the famous 
Guy earl of Warwick.—We are told, that the firft fign- 
poft which flhikes the fight at the landing on the qu^y of 
Dublin, is that belonging to the inn called “ The Cow ;” 
and that, by a curious nationality, the fign really bears a 
ftronger lik.nefs to a Bull. Whether this miftake al¬ 
ludes or gave origin to the denomination of bull, gene¬ 
rally applied to thole blunders which are generated by ra¬ 
pidity of thought overcoming the facility of utterance, 
we leave others to decide. 
The Three Balls, exhibited at the (hops of pawnbrokers, 
by the vulgar humorbufly enough faid to indicate that it 
is two to one the things pledged are never redeemed, were 
originally nothing but pills, as the following Ratement 
will prove. It is a well-known fact in the hiftory of Eu¬ 
rope, that the firft money-lenders were fome inhabitants 
of Lombardy, who Spread themfelves all over Europe, and 
obtained a fort of fettlement in almoll every confiderable 
city, as appears by the ftreets which bear Hill their name ; 
viz. Lombard-Jlrcct in London, Rue des Lombards at Paris, 
&c.-—The molt natural way to indicate their dwellings 
was to hang over their doors, as a fign, the arms of their 
fovereign, rhe illuftrious houfe of the Medici-, now thefe 
very arms are nothing but balls, bolufles, or pills, red 
and blue upon a gold ground, in allufion to the name 
Medici, which means “ Phyficians,” front one of which 
profefiion this family had its rife. The original colour 
was kept up for a long time, and gave a denomination to 
feveral Blue-ball-alleys, where thefe money-lenders ufed to 
hide their ufurious praflices ; but they have fince found 
it neceffary to gild their pills, as a better decoy for their 
needy cuftomers.. 
Another fign appertaining to a particular profefiion was 
Abfalom hanging to a tree by his hair, and king David 
lamenting at a diftance. This was adopted by a wig- 
maker, who caufed a label to ilTue from David’s mouth, 
containing thefe words: 
O Abfalom, my fon, my fon ; 
Hadft thou but worn a peruke, thou hadft not been undone. 
This fign was exhibited, a few years fince, in Union- 
ltreet, Borough ; and is not uncommon in France. 
In Fleet-market, on the eaftern fide, were fmal! houfes 
with a lign-polt reprefenting two hands conjoined, with 
“ Marriages performed within” written beneath, whilli a 
dirty fellow affailed the ears of the paffengers with the 
iterated and loud compellation cf “ Sir, will you be pleafed 
to walk in and be married ;” as if the dread of any flop-; 
page in the trade of conjugality was threatening mankind 
with premature extin&ion. The parfon was leen walk¬ 
ing before his fhop, as an ambulant fign, “ready (fays 
the fame author) to couple you for a dram of gin or a 
roll of tobacco.” The/ flat. 26 Geo. II. c. 33, (anno 
1752.) at length put an end to this molt fcandalous 
praftice. 
Th* 
3 
