. St. Nicholas [serial]. THE LEATHERN BOTTLE. from the lower part of the arms of the Dukesof Medici, continues to this day to be the signof pawnbrokers — money-lenders. The balls onthe rich crest of the Medici were blue, and onlyduring the last half-century have they, in thepawnbrokers signs, been gilded. The positionof the balls is popularly believed to indicate thatthere are two chances to one that what isbrought there will not be redeemed. The fifteenth-century signs of this famous old AN OLD PAWNBROKERS SIGN. (SEE PAGE 165.) dinals Hat, The Cat and the Fiddle, TheAnchor ? • The Bull is a f
. St. Nicholas [serial]. THE LEATHERN BOTTLE. from the lower part of the arms of the Dukesof Medici, continues to this day to be the signof pawnbrokers — money-lenders. The balls onthe rich crest of the Medici were blue, and onlyduring the last half-century have they, in thepawnbrokers signs, been gilded. The positionof the balls is popularly believed to indicate thatthere are two chances to one that what isbrought there will not be redeemed. The fifteenth-century signs of this famous old AN OLD PAWNBROKERS SIGN. (SEE PAGE 165.) dinals Hat, The Cat and the Fiddle, TheAnchor ? • The Bull is a favorite English have supposed that this fact gave theBriton his nickname of John Bull, thoughothers ascribe it to his favorite roast, or say thatit was derived from the ancient sport of bull-baiting. Thus bulls have figured on inn sign-boards as black, gray, pied, and even spangled. On one of these historic inns in Holborn, I9°3-1 THE SIGNS OF OLD LONDON. 165. THE BOAK S HE the great black beast with curved neck paws asbravely as ever over the entrance to the oldcourtyard. Lovers of Dickens will recall thatit was at The Black Bull in Holborn that and Betsy Prig nursed Mrs. Lewsome. Nussed together, turn and turn about, one off,one on. This riotous, proud-looking beastwill soon find a place in the British Museum. There is at Guildhall a relic of rarest interest— The Boars Head, the sign of an old tavernin Eastcheap. This time-honored thoroughfareis mentioned as a place of cooks; and this his-toric rendezvous earned and well maintained theproud title, This is the chief tavern in ancient sign carved in stone, with the ini-tials I. T. above the snout, and the date 1668,is now considered a priceless memento. The very name Boars Head conjures upthe rollicking social life of those times. Herefor generations the best wits and writers of Lon-don used to gather, and around the place scoresof Shaksperian memories cluster. The ori
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
