REMARKS ON INN SIGNS. 66 vestigia pressit, Observans quæ Signa ferant!" EN. vi, 197. ROM the eleventh chapter of my Essay Some years sinee I began to prepare ago for the press a separate treatise on this subject; but having been hitherto prevented from carrying my design into execution, it has occurred to me that a short dissertation, showing its connexion with Heraldry and Surnames, might not be unacceptable to the readers of these volumes. I have already said that in former times signs were not exclusively limited to inns. Every shopkeeper, or nearly so, had his sign, emblematical, in most instances, of the wares to be disposed of. In this place, however, it is my intention to confine my remarks to those of taverns and inns. A history of inns, antient and modern, would be a curious contribution to our literature; though it would be foreign to my present purpose. Without further preface, I shall * See Vol. I, p. 199. proceed to classify the medieval and modern signs of these useful establishments. There are seven principal classes of signs, each of which is susceptible of subdivisions, viz: I. Those of a Religious Origin. II. Those derived from Heraldry. III. Those referring to Distinguished Personages. In the middle ages, inns were comparatively rare. The benevolence and hospitality of the monasteries rendered them to a great extent unnecessary. Travellers of all grades repaired to the abbeys and priories for rest and refreshment, and the largesses of the wealthier sort enabled the monks to furnish gratuitous entertainment and lodging to wayfarers of a humbler degree. The practice of going on pilgrimage to distant celebrated shrines led to the erection of waysideinns for the use of the devotees. Hence obviously arose our first class-namely, signs of a Religious character. Chief among these is the symbol of our faith-the Cross, formerly a much more common sign than at present. When described as the Golden, the Red, or the White, Cross, it probably belongs to those borrowed from armorial insignia. The Cross-in-Hand may be as antient as the Crusades. The Holy Rood, a representation of Christ upon the cross, with Mary and John standing by, is now almost obsolete as a sign. Before the Reformation, every church had its rood occupying a kind of gallery, called the rood-loft, over the chancel arch. Rood and Roods, I may observe, are used as surnames. The Lamb is a common sign. It was formerly the Holy Lamb, bearing the cross. In the earlier and purer days of Christianity, the sacred passion was represented by a simple cross, or by a cross ensigned by XP (the first two letters of XploTÓS). To this symbol was added, about the year 400, a white lamb at the foot of the cross. In 706, the lamb was superseded by a figure of the Saviour, standing with extended arms as if in prayer, but it was not until the tenth century that this figure was represented dead and nailed to the transverse beam, as in the modern crucifix.* The Holy Lamb, however, was still occasionally represented in illuminations and sculpture, and it is yet retained in the armorial bearings of several families. The Maiden's Head may sometimes refer to the Virgin Mary, though it is otherwhile regarded as a representation of one of the eleven thousand virgins of Catholic fable. This sign has also become a surname as Maidenhead. The Salutation was originally a painting or sculpture of the Annunciation—the appearance of the angel to Mary with the memorable words, Ave Maria, Dominus tecum, &c. An inn in London bearing this sign corrupted it in a most ludicrous manner. The original meaning of the expression being forgotten, the sign-board exhibited two gentlemen in tailed coats in the act of salutation by shaking hands! The Saints frequently occur as George and Dragon is familiar to all. signs. The St. The St. Andrew, the Baptist's Head, the Christopher, the St. Dunstan, the St. Helena, are far less frequent. The Catherine * Vide Maitland's Church in the Catacombs, p. 204. Wheel, and the Gridiron refer to the martyrdoms of SS. Catherine and Lawrence. The Blossoms, a considerable inn in London, was so called from its antient sign, which represented St. Lawrence within a border of blossoms or flowers. The legend of this Saint states that flowers sprang up his martyrdom. upon the spot of The Mitre, the Cross Keys, the Cardinal's Cap (at Canterbury), the Friars, and the Monk's Head, indicate the influence of the priestly order in their respective localities. The Bishop Blaize is a popular ale-house sign in the clothing counties. St. Blaize was bishop of Sebaske in Cappadocia, and is said to have visited England, and to have settled at a place in Cornwall, designated after him, St. Blazey. He suffered martyrdom in 289, by beheading, after his flesh had been cruelly lacerated with iron combs; and from this latter incident he was selected as the tutelary saint of the woolcombers.* The signs representing scriptural subjects are less common than formerly; among those still retained are Adam and Eve, The Two Spies,† Bel and the Dragon, often corrupted to the Bell and Dragon, and Simon the Tanner. Mr. Roby considers the Adam and Eve a vestige of "Those shows which once profaned the sacred page, in which the first parents of mankind were dramatis * Roby. + The original sign probably represented not the two spies sent to Jericho by Joshua, but the two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb, bearing the cluster of grapes-to indicate that good wine might be had within. persona. Stowe tells us that the Creation of the World' was acted at Clerkenwell, in 1409, by the Company of Parish-clerks, and the representation lasted eight days. So lately as the year 1600, in one of the Chester Whitsun plays or moralities (!) Adam and Eve appear on the stage without the slightest apology for vestments of any kind. The Devil and St. Dunstan was a favourite subject among medieval painters and sculptors. The foul fiend Sathanas' was pourtrayed, however, in all the deformity of claw, tail, and horn, and utterly divested of the assumed form of a 'faire ladie,' under which he presented himself to the Saint upon the memorable occasion of the legend: "Saynct Dunstane, as ye storie goes, Hee tugged soe harde and made hym rore That he was heerd thre myles and more." The tongs with which this feat was performed, together with the hammer and anvil which the Christian Vulcan was using at the time of the temptation, are carefully preserved at Mayfield Palace, co. Sussex, where the scene is alleged to have occurred. St. Dunstan's Bridge, in the same vicinity, is pointed out as the spot where the fiend succeeded in making his escape from the saintly grasp. Per antithesin, we may next mention the sign of the Angel. In ecclesiastical architecture, angels supporting shields are of very common occurrence, as corbels and |