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diff --git a/41869-0.txt b/41869-0.txt index 82a4509..6872137 100644 --- a/41869-0.txt +++ b/41869-0.txt @@ -1,39 +1,4 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Old Tavern Signs, by Fritz August Gottfried -Endell - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - - - - -Title: Old Tavern Signs - An Excursion in the History of Hospitality - - -Author: Fritz August Gottfried Endell - - - -Release Date: January 18, 2013 [eBook #41869] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TAVERN SIGNS*** - - -E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Matthew Wheaton, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by Internet Archive (http://archive.org) - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41869 *** Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. @@ -6148,362 +6113,4 @@ July 3, 1892. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - - - - -Title: Old Tavern Signs - An Excursion in the History of Hospitality - - -Author: Fritz August Gottfried Endell - - - -Release Date: January 18, 2013 [eBook #41869] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TAVERN SIGNS*** - - -E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Matthew Wheaton, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by Internet Archive (http://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 41869-h.htm or 41869-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41869/41869-h/41869-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41869/41869-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - http://archive.org/details/oldtavernsignsex00enderich - - - - - -OLD TAVERN SIGNS - - -[Illustration: Old Dutch Signs From a Painting by Gerrit and - Job Berkheyden] - - -OLD TAVERN SIGNS - -An Excursion in the History of Hospitality - -by - -FRITZ ENDELL - -With Illustrations by the Author - - - - - - - -Published by Houghton Mifflin Company -Printed at The Riverside Press Cambridge -Mdccccxvi - -Copyright, 1916, by Houghton Mifflin Company -All Rights Reserved - -Published November 1916 - -THIS EDITION, PRINTED AT THE RIVERSIDE -PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, CONSISTS OF FIVE HUNDRED -AND FIFTY NUMBERED COPIES, OF -WHICH FIVE HUNDRED ARE FOR SALE. THIS -IS NUMBER 5 - - - - -Preface - - - For a sign! as indeed man, with his singular imaginative - faculties, can do little or nothing without signs. - CARLYLE - -The author's love of the subject is his only apology for his bold -undertaking. First it was the filigree quality and the beauty of the -delicate tracery of the wrought-iron signs in the picturesque villages -of southern Germany that attracted his attention; then their deep -symbolic significance exerted its influence more and more over his -mind, and tempted him at last to follow their history back until he -could discover its multifarious relations to the thought and feeling -of earlier generations. - -For the shaping of the English text the author is greatly indebted to -his American friends Mr. D. S. Muzzey, Mr. Emil Heinrich Richter, and -Mr. Carleton Noyes. - - - - - Contents - - - I. HOSPITALITY AND ITS TOKENS 1 - II. ANCIENT TAVERN SIGNS 23 - III. ECCLESIASTICAL HOSPITALITY AND ITS SIGNS 47 - IV. SECULAR HOSPITALITY: KNIGHTLY AND POPULAR SIGNS 75 - V. TRAVELING WITH SHAKESPEARE AND MONTAIGNE 101 - VI. TAVERN SIGNS IN ART--ESPECIALLY IN PICTURES BY THE DUTCH - MASTERS 127 - VII. ARTISTS AS SIGN-PAINTERS 141 - VIII. THE SIGN IN POETRY 167 - IX. POLITICAL SIGNS 187 - X. TRAVELING WITH GOETHE AND FREDERICK THE GREAT 217 - XI. THE ENGLISH SIGN AND ITS PECULIARITIES 235 - XII. THE ENEMIES OF THE SIGN AND ITS END 259 - ENVOY: AND THE MORAL? 277 - BIBLIOGRAPHY 291 - INDEX 297 - - - - - Illustrations - - - OLD DUTCH SIGNS _Frontispiece_ - _From a painting by Gerrit and Job Berkheyden_ - - ZUM SCHIFF, IN STUTTGART _Title-Page_ - - ZUM OCHSEN, IN BIETIGHEIM, WÜRTTEMBERG vi - - THE COCK, IN FLEET STREET, LONDON 2 - - ADAM AND EVE 5 - _From an engraving by Hogarth_ - - ELEFANT AND CASTLE, LONDON 7 - _From an old woodcut_ - - ENGEL, IN MURRHARDT, WÜRTTEMBERG 11 - - ZUM GOLDNEN ANKER IN BESIGHEIM, WÜRTTEMBERG 20 - - ENGEL, IN WINNENDEN, WÜRTTEMBERG 24 - - ZUM RAD, IN RAVENSBURG, WÜRTTEMBERG 37 - - ZUM WILDEN MANN, IN ESSLINGEN, WÜRTTEMBERG 38 - - ROMAN TAVERN SIGN FROM ISERNIA, ITALY 43 - - CAMPANA AND CANONE D'ORO, IN BORGO SAN DALMAZZO, ITALY 44 - - LAMM, IN ERLENBACH, WÜRTTEMBERG 48 - - ZUM RITTER, IN DEGERLOCH, WÜRTTEMBERG 65 - - THE GOOD WOMAN, OLD ENGLISH SIGN 67 - - HIE ZUM KINDLI, IN THE COLLECTION OF THE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY - IN ZÜRICH 71 - - ADLER, IN LEONBERG, WÜRTTEMBERG 76 - - ZUM RÖSSLE, IN BOZEN, AUSTRIA 83 - - LE CHAT QUI DORT, MUSÉE CARNAVALET, PARIS 89 - - AFFENWAGEN, OLD SWISS SIGN 91 - - EAGLE AND CHILD, GUILDHALL MUSEUM, LONDON 100 - - KRONE, IN LEONBERG, WÜRTTEMBERG 102 - - THE FALCON, IN CHESTER, ENGLAND 105 - - THE OLD BLUE BOAR, IN LINCOLN, ENGLAND 115 - - ROSE, IN MURRHARDT, WÜRTTEMBERG 121 - - THE ROWING BARGE, IN WALLINGFORD, ENGLAND 125 - - THE TRUMPETER BEFORE A TAVERN 128 - _From a painting by Du Jardin in Amsterdam_ - - A BAKER'S SIGN IN BORGO SAN DALMAZZO, ITALY 135 - - THE HALF-MOON 136 - _From a painting by Teniers in London_ - - ZUR POST, IN LEONBERG, WÜRTTEMBERG 137 - - A SIGN-PAINTER 142 - _From an engraving by Hogarth_ - - ENSEIGNE DU RÉMOULEUR, PARIS 153 - - THE GOAT, IN KENSINGTON, LONDON 163 - - ZUM GOLDNEN HIRSCH, IN LEONBERG, WÜRTTEMBERG 168 - - TRATTORIA DEL GALLO, IN TENDA, ITALY 184 - - ZUM LÖWEN, IN BIETIGHEIM, WÜRTTEMBERG 186 - - THE KING OF WÜRTTEMBERG, IN STUTTGART 188 - - ZUR KRONE, IN DEGERLOCH, WÜRTTEMBERG 191 - - BUTCHER SIGN IN OBERSTENFELD, WÜRTTEMBERG 197 - - THE DOG AND POT, IN LONDON 214 - - ZUR POST, IN BIETIGHEIM, WÜRTTEMBERG 218 - - AUX TROIS LAPINS, OLD PARISIAN SIGN 227 - - LAMB AND FLAG, IN EAST BATH, ENGLAND 236 - - THE SWAN, IN WELLS, ENGLAND 238 - - FOUR SWANS, IN WALTHAM CROSS, ENGLAND 240 - - SALUTATION INN, IN MANGOTSFIELD, ENGLAND 244 - _A club sign from the museum in Taunton, England_ - - THE PACK-HORSE, IN CHIPPENHAM, ENGLAND 246 - - ZUM HIRSCHEN, IN WINNENDEN, WÜRTTEMBERG 253 - - CAVALLO BIANCO, IN BORGO SAN DALMAZZO, ITALY 260 - - THREE SQUIRRELS, IN LONDON 262 - - ZUR GLOCKE, IN WINNENDEN, WÜRTTEMBERG 264 - - ZUM SCHLÜSSEL, IN BOZEN, AUSTRIA 267 - - THE DOG IN SHOREDITCH 270 - _From a woodcut in "A Vademecum for Malt-Worms," in the - British Museum_ - - THE QUEEN, IN EXETER, ENGLAND 272 - - ZUM STORCHEN, A MODERN SIGN IN BIETIGHEIM 274 - - ZUR TRAUBE, IN STUTTGART, KOLBSTRASSE 14 276 - - SONNE, IN NECKARSULM, WÜRTTEMBERG 278 - - AN OLD LANDLORD 281 - _From the "Schachbuch," Lübeck, 1489_ - - DEATH AND THE LANDLORD 283 - _From a Dance of Death printed in the Fifteenth Century, - now in the Court Library in Stuttgart_ - - ZUR SONNE IN WINNENDEN, WÜRTTEMBERG 284 - - THE GEORGE AND DRAGON, IN WARGRAVE, ENGLAND 286 - - ZUM POSTGARTEN, IN MÜNCHEN, BAVARIA 289 - - _The Cover-Design is from the sign of the "Goldene Sonne" - in Leonberg, Württemberg_ - - - - -Old Tavern Signs - - - - -CHAPTER I - -HOSPITALITY AND ITS TOKENS - -[Illustration: THE COCK FLEET-STREET LONDON] - - - - -Old Tavern Signs - - - - -CHAPTER I - -HOSPITALITY AND ITS TOKENS - - "Und es ist vorteilhaft, den Genius - Bewirten: giebst du ihm ein Gastgeschenk, - So lässt er dir ein schöneres zurück. - Die Stätte, die ein guter Mensch betrat, - Ist eingeweiht...." - - GOETHE. - - "To house a genius is a privilege; - How fine so e'er a gift thou givest him, - He leaves a finer one behind for thee. - The spot is hallowed where a good man treads." - -Without a question, the first journey that ever mortals made on this -round earth was the unwilling flight of Adam and Eve from the Garden -of Eden out into an empty world. Many of us who condemn this world as -a vale of tears would gladly make the return journey into Paradise, -picturing in bright colors the road that our first parents trod in -bitterness and woe. Happy in a Paradise in which all the beauties of -the first creation were spread before their eyes, where no enemies -lurked, and where even the wild beasts were faithful companions, Adam -and Eve could not, with the least semblance of reason, plead as an -excuse for traveling that constraint which springs from man's inward -unrest striving for the perfect haven of peace beyond the vicissitudes -of his lot. - -And as Adam and Eve went out, weak and friendless, into a strange -world, so it was long before their poor descendants dared to leave -their sheltering homes and fare forth into unknown and distant parts. -Still, the bitter trials which the earliest travelers had to bear -implanted in their hearts the seeds of a valor which has won the -praise of all the spiritual leaders of men, from the Old Testament -worthies, with their injunction "to care for the stranger within the -gates," to the divine words of the Nazarene: "I was a stranger, and ye -took me in.... Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto -one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." - -Our first parents, naturally, could not enjoy the blessings of -hospitality. And still, in later ages, they have not infrequently been -depicted on signs which hosts have hung out to proclaim a hospitality -not gratuitous but hearty. So in one of Hogarth's drawings, of the -year 1750, "The March of the Guards towards Scotland," which the -artist himself later etched, and dedicated to Frederick the Great, we -see Adam and Eve figuring on a tavern sign. No visitor to London -should fail to see this work of the English painter-satirist. One may -see a copy of it, with other distinguished pictures, in the large hall -of a foundling asylum established in 1739, especially for the merciful -purpose of caring for illegitimate children in the cruel early years -of their life. This hall, which is filled with valuable mementos of -great men, like Händel, is open to visitors after church services on -Sundays. And we would advise the tourist who is not dismayed by the -thought of an hour's sermon to attend the service. If he finds it -difficult to follow the preacher in his theological flights, he has -but to sit quiet and raise his eyes to the gallery, where a circlet of -fresh child faces surrounds the stately heads of the precentor and the -organist. At the end of the service let him not forget to glance into -the dining-hall, where all the little folks are seated at the long -fairy tables, with a clear green leaf of lettuce in each tiny plate, -and each rosy face buried in a mug of gleaming milk. This picture will -be dearer to him in memory than many a canvas of noted masters in the -National Gallery. - -The present-day tourist who takes the bus out Finchley Road to hunt -up the old sign will be as sorely disappointed as if he expected to -find the "Angel" shield in Islington or the quaint "Elephant and -Castle" sign in South London. Almost all the old London signs have -vanished out of the streets, and only a few of them have taken refuge -in the dark sub-basement of the Guildhall Museum, where they lead a -right pitiable existence, dreaming of the better days when they hung -glistening in the happy sunshine. There were "Adam and Eve" taverns in -London, in "Little Britain," and in Kensington High Street. In other -countries, France and Switzerland, for example, they were called -"Paradise" signs. A last feeble echo of the old Paradise sign lingers -in the inscription over a fashion shop in modern Paris, "Au Paradis -des Dames," the woman's paradise, in which are sold, it must be said, -only articles for which Eve in Paradise had no use. - -[Illustration: ELEFANT·AND·CASTLE·LONDON·] - -Gavarni, who spoke the bitter phrase, "Partout Dieu n'est et n'a été -que l'enseigne d'une boutique," made bold in one of his lithographs of -"Scènes de la vie intime" (1837) to inscribe over the gates of -Paradise, from which the "tenants" were flying: "Au pommier sans -pareil." Schiller tells us that the world loves to smirch shining -things and bring down the lofty to the dust. This need not deter us -from reading in the old Paradise signs a reminder of the journey of -our first parents, and to enjoy thankfully the blessings of ordered -hospitality to-day. - -Until this ordered hospitality prevailed, however, many centuries had -to elapse, and for the long interval every man who ventured out into -the hostile wilderness resembled Carlyle's traveler, "overtaken by -Night and its tempests and rain deluges, but refusing to pause; who is -wetted to the bone, and does not care further for rain. A traveler -grown familiar with howling solitudes, aware that the storm winds do -not pity, that Darkness is the dead earth's shadow." Only the strong -and bold could dare to defy wild nature, especially when there was -need to cross desolate places, inhospitable mountains like the Alps. -So the ancients celebrated Hercules as a hero, because he was the -pioneer who made a road through their rough mountain world. - -A still longer time had to elapse ere the traveler could rejoice in -the beauties of nature which surrounded him. The civilizing work of -insuring safe highways had to be done before what Macaulay names "the -sense of the wilder beauties of nature" could be developed. "It was -not till roads had been cut out of the rocks, till bridges had been -flung over the courses of the rivulets, till inns had succeeded to -dens of robbers ... that strangers could be enchanted by the blue -dimples of the lakes and by the rainbow which overhung the waterfalls, -and could derive a solemn pleasure even from the clouds and tempests -which lowered on the mountain-tops." - -No wonder, then, that the literature of olden times, when traveling -was so dangerous an occupation, is filled with admonitions to -hospitality. The finest example of it, perhaps, is preserved in the -Bible story of the visit of the angels to Abraham, and later to Lot. -This story deserves to be read again and again as the typical account -of hospitality. As is the custom to speak in the most modest terms of -a meal to which one invites a guest, calling it "a bite" or "a cup of -tea," so Abraham spoke to the angels, "I will fetch a morsel of bread, -and comfort ye your hearts." Then Abraham told his wife to bake a -great loaf, while he himself went out to kill a fatted calf and bring -butter and milk. In like fashion Lot extends his hospitality, -providing the strangers with water to refresh their tired feet, and in -the night even risking his life against the attacking Sodomites, to -protect the guests who have come for shelter beneath his roof. - -The feeling that a guest might be a divine messenger, nay, even Deity -itself, continued into the New Testament times, as St. Paul's advice -to the Hebrews shows: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for -thereby some have entertained angels unawares." And did not the -disciples, too, at times, receive their Master as a guest in their -homes, the Son of Man, the Son of God? William Allen Knight has dwelt -on this thought very beautifully in his little book called "Peter in -the Firelight": "The people of Capernaum slept that night with -glowings of peace lighting their dreams. But in no house where loved -ones freed from pain were sleeping was there gladness like in Simon's; -for the Master himself was sleeping there." - -[Illustration: Murrhardt] - -A later type of legend pictures the angels, not as guests, but as -benefactors, preparing a wonderful meal for starving monks who in -their charity have given away all their possessions to the poor, and -have no bread to eat. The tourist, walking through the seemingly -endless galleries of the Louvre, will pause a moment before the -beautiful canvas on which Murillo has depicted this story. The French -call it "la cuisine des anges." It is a historical fact that many -cloisters were reduced to poverty in the Middle Ages on account of -their generous almsgiving. Not all of them could lay claim to the holy -Diego of Murillo's painting, who could pray with such perfect trust in -Him who feeds the sparrows that angels came down from heaven into the -cloister kitchen to prepare the meal. The widespread popularity of -these Biblical stories and holy legends need cause no wonder that the -angel was a favorite subject for tavern signs in the Middle Ages, and -that even at this day he takes so many an old inn under the patronage -of his benevolent wings. It has been asserted that the angel sign -originated in the age of the Reformation, simply by leaving out the -figure of the Virgin Mary from the portrayal of the scene of the -Annunciation. But against this theory stands the fact that there were -simple angel signs in the Middle Ages as well as Annunciation signs. -We learn that the students of Paris in the year 1380 assembled for -their revels in the tavern "in angelo." The records of these same -Parisian students tell us how they lingered over their cups in the -tavern "in duobus angelis," in the year of grace 1449. - -We may remark here in passing that the linen drapers' guild in London -had as its escutcheon the three angels of Abraham. One need only to -recall the full, flowing garments of Botticelli's angels to understand -in what great respect the linen merchant would hold the angels as good -customers of the drapery trade. - -An angel in beggar's form brought St. Julian the good news of the -pardon of the sins of his youth. In a wild fit of anger the headstrong -young Julian had killed his parents. As atonement for his dreadful -crime he had done penance and built a refuge in which for many long -years he freely cared for all travelers who came his way. At last the -angel's reward of hospitality was vouchsafed to him, and in memory of -his good works tavern-keepers chose him as their patron saint. - -The stern Consistory of Geneva had evidently forgotten all these -beautiful legends and their deep symbolical meaning, when in the year -1647 it forbade a tavern-keeper to hang out an angel sign, "ce qui est -non accoutumé en cette ville et scandaleux." Perhaps the grave city -fathers of Geneva remembered their by-gone student days in Paris, and -the handsome angel hostess in the city on the Seine, where a -contemporary of Louis XIV celebrated in song:-- - - "Un ange que j'idolâtre - À cause du bon vin qu'il a." - -The most attractive angel tavern that the author has met in his -travels is in the quiet little English town of Grantham, although he -has to confess, in the words of the German song:-- - - "Es giebt so manche Strasse, da nimmer ich marschiert, - Es giebt so manchen Wein, den ich nimmer noch probiert." - -It was a sharp autumn day. The wind that whistled about the lofty -cathedral of Lincoln had searched us to the marrow, and we were well -content after our ride from the station to find a kindly welcome at -the "Angel." The façade of the dignified tavern, which once belonged -to the Knights' Templars, and which saw the royal guests, King John -in 1213, and King Richard III in 1483, entertained within its walls, -is one of the most splendid architectural monuments that we saw in -England. As everywhere in this garden-land, the ivy winds its green -arms around the stiffer forms of the English Gothic, which often lack -the warm picturesqueness of architectural detail that makes the -wonderful charm of the French and the South German Gothic. - -Over the lintel of the door of the tavern the sculptured angel shone -resplendent in his golden glory. A charming little balcony rested on -his wings and his hands held out a crown of hospitable welcome to -royal and common guests alike. All these winged messengers of -hospitality seem to say in the words of the Old Testament: "The -stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among -you, and thou shalt love him as thyself: for ye were strangers in the -land of Egypt." - -The bitter experience of their own distress in a strange land planted -in the hearts of the Israelitish people a kindly feeling toward the -stranger. For all that, much was permitted in dealing with a stranger -which was forbidden in the case of a brother Israelite. The stranger -might be made to pay interest, and it was no infraction of the Mosaic -Law to make him and his children men-servants and maidservants. - -While, then, the law of the exclusive Jews accorded certain rights to -the stranger which the children of Israel were warned not to impair, -the Græco-Roman world, on the other hand, recognized no claim of the -stranger. "Il n'y a jamais de droit pour l'étranger," says Fustel de -Coulanges in "La Cité antique." The same word in Latin means -originally both enemy and stranger. "Hostilis facies" in Virgil, means -the face of a stranger. To avoid all chance of encountering the sight -of a stranger while performing his sacred office, the Pontifex -performed the sacrifice with veiled face. In spite of this, the -stranger met with favorable consideration both at Athens and at Rome, -in case he was rich and distinguished. Commercial interests welcomed -his arrival and bestowed on him the "jus commercii"--(the right to -engage in trade). Yet he came wholly within the protection of the -laws only when he chose one of the citizens as his "patron." - -It seems as if it must have been embarrassing in those days to have -shown one's "hostilis facies" in foreign lands and cities in the -course of a journey undertaken for pleasure or to seek the cures at -the bathing resorts. Still we know that the Romans, in their -enthusiasm for this kind of travel, built villas, theaters, temples, -and baths at some of the most celebrated watering-places of modern -days, like Nice and Wiesbaden. - -The stiff and almost hostile attitude of classical antiquity toward -the stranger was relieved by the hospitable custom which made the -stranger almost a member of the family as soon as he had been received -at the family hearth and had partaken of the family meal. This -function was a sacred one among the ancients, for they believed that -the gods were present at their table: "Et mensæ credere adesse deos," -says Ovid in the "Fastes." - -At especially festal meals it was the custom to crown the head with -wreaths, as in the case of the public meals, where chosen delegates of -the city, clad in white, met to partake of the food which was the -symbol of their common life of citizenship; or in the case of the -bridal meals, where the maiden, veiled in white, pledged herself -forever to the bridegroom. There was no rich wedding-cake, like those -common in England and America, but a simple loaf, "panis farreus," -which after the common prayer they ate in common "under the eyes of -the family gods." "So," says Plato, "the gods themselves lead the wife -to the home of her husband." - -The custom of wearing a crown at solemn feasts was founded on the -ancient belief that it was well pleasing to the gods. "If thou -performest thy sacrifice [and the meal was a sacrifice] without the -wreath upon thy head, the gods will turn from thee," says a fragment -from Sappho. The sense of the nearness of the gods at mealtime and the -beautiful old custom of pouring out a bit of wine for the invisible -holy guest, were preserved down to the time of the later Romans. We -find the custom in vogue with such old sinners as Horace and Juvenal. -We shall recall the significance of the wreath as a symbol when we -meet the ivy wreath later as a tavern sign. - -But even in classical antiquity the exercise of free hospitality -demanded certain tokens to preserve it from abuse at the hands of -fraudulent strangers. For example, the so-called "tessera hospitalis," -a tiny object in the shape of a ram's head or a fish, was split in -halves and shared by each party to the agreement of hospitality. By -presenting his half of the "tessera" the stranger could always prove -his identity and his claims to a hospitable reception by the family to -which he came. - -Other tokens were small ivory or metal hands carved with appropriate -inscriptions. The latter were also sometimes exchanged on the -negotiation of treaties between nations. In the medallion cabinet at -Paris there is one of these treaty-hands in bronze, commemorating a -treaty between the Gallic tribe of the Velavii and a Greek -colony--probably Marseilles. This hand of hospitality, like the -wreath, was a frequent motive in the development of the tavern sign. -In fact, it was so frequent in the German lands that the people were -accustomed to call the tavern, in figurative speech, the "place where -the good God stretched out his hands." If we recall the deep symbolic -meaning of such signs, we shall not find this naïve expression of the -people shocking, like the Puritan Consistory at Geneva, whose -narrow-minded prohibition of the angel sign we have already noticed. - -[Illustration: BESIGHEIM] - -Now, before passing to the study of the origins of entertainment for -pay, with its signs (which were really the first tavern signs) let us -turn back to the old Germans, to note their idea of hospitality. The -German fathers, too, tell in a beautiful story of the reception of a -divine guest in the cottage of a mortal, and of a reward like that -which Abraham had for his spirit of friendly aid. In one of the -religious songs of the "Edda," which probably originated in the -North-Scottish islands, we read how the god Heimdall, in the disguise -of a humble traveler, visited the hut of an aged couple, and was -honorably received by them:-- - - "Then Edda brought forward a loaf of graham bread, - Firm, thick and full of hulls; - And more, too, she brought to the table, - And set thereon the bowl of soup." - RIGSPULA, 4. - -In the sayings of Hars (i.e., of Odin) the Lofty, the rule of -hospitality is stated:-- - - "Hail to the Givers! a guest enters. - Say where he shall sit. - He cannot stay long - Who must seek his living in the chase on snowshoes. - - * * * * * - - He who comes from afar needs fire, - For his knees are stiff with the cold. - He who has crossed the mountain cliffs, - Needs food and clothing sore. - Water and welcoming greeting he needs - And the towel to dry him from the bath." - -So even the old Germans had felt the blessings of hospitality, and -received the angel's reward. An old poet expressed it in a simple -phrase:-- - - "A bit of bread, and the offer of the cup - Won me a noble friend." - - - - -CHAPTER II - -ANCIENT TAVERN SIGNS - -[Illustration: Engel Winnenden, Württemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -ANCIENT TAVERN SIGNS - - - "La bourse du voyageur, cette bourse précieuse, contient tout - pour lui, puisque la sainte hospitalité n'est plus là pour le - reçevoir au seuil des maisons avec son doux sourire et sa - cordialité auguste." - - VICTOR HUGO (_Le Rhin_). - -We must now take leave of "holy hospitality" which is written in the -hearts of men and truly needs no outward sign, and must follow Iago's -counsel: "Put money in thy purse!" For our journey is no longer from -friend to friend, but from host to host and from sign to sign. Regret -it as we may, a hospitality for profit's sake had to succeed the old -free hospitality of friends. The widening commerce of the Roman -world-empire could hardly have existed without a well-regulated -business of entertainment along those magnificent roads by which the -empire was bound together. The traveler was more and more unlikely, -with every extension of the area of his far journeyings, to find -houses to which he was bound by the friendly ties of genuine -hospitality; while he who remained quietly by his own fireside ("qui -sedet post fornacem") would find the constantly increasing duties of -the voluntary host growing to be so great a burden that he would be -relieved to see the establishment of public inns. Indeed, he may -himself, at first, have sought relief by charging his guests a nominal -sum to defray their expense. At any rate, it would be very difficult -to fix an exact line between these two forms of entertainment, which -existed side by side for long ages of antiquity. Certain it is that at -some moment, we know not just when, there appeared the Pompeian -inscription over the tavern door: "Hospitium hic locatur." -(Hospitality for hire.) That was the birth-hour of the tavern sign. - -We cannot hide the fact that the beginnings of business hospitality -were of a very unedifying character, under the plague of Mammon. In -Jewish and Gentile society alike they must have been closely akin to -that kind of hospitality against whose smooth speech and Egyptian -luxury the wise old Solomon warned foolish youth in his Proverbs. -Witness the identical word in Hebrew to denote a courtesan and a -tavern hostess; witness Plato's exclusion of the tavern-keeper from -his ideal republic; witness the reluctance of the respectable Greek -and Roman to enter a tavern. In the Berlin collection of antiques -there is a stone relief which has been pronounced an old Roman tavern -sign. On it the "Quattuor sorores," or four sisters, are represented -as frivolous women. And there are charges entered on old Roman tavern -bills which could not possibly appear on a hotel bill to-day. Both the -rich and the poor were imbued with the spirit of Horace's words:-- - - "Pereant qui crastina curant, - Mors aurem vellens: Vivite, ait, venio." - - (Dismiss care for the morrow, - Death tweaks us by the ear and says, Drink, for I come.) - -This spirit reveals itself in a dance of death, which decorated the -beautiful silver tankards found in Boscoreale, a Pompeian suburb. And -so we must not be surprised to see later, during the Middle Ages, even -on tavern signs the grim figure of Death; as for example, on the -French tavern, "La Mort qui trompe." - -The magnificent frescoes of the rich in Pompeian art show us a -palatial feasting-hall with the inscription, "Facite vobis suaviter" -(Enjoy your life here); and at the same time the tavern guests for a -few pennies woo the philosophy of "carpe diem"--the careless -abandonment to pleasure that knows no concern for the morrow. Another -inscription found in Pompeii makes the tavern Hebe say: "For an as -[penny] I give you good wine; for a double as, still better wine; for -four ases, the famed Falerian wine of song." To be sure, the wine was -often pretty bad in these greasy inns--Horace's "uncta popina." One -guest relieved his mind of his complaint by writing on the chamber -wall: "O mine host, you sell the doctored wine, but the undiluted you -drink yourself." On the same wall, which seems to have served as a -kind of "guest-book" ("libro dei forestieri") are the names of many -guests, one of whom complains in touching phrase that he is sleeping -far away from his beloved wife for whom he yearns: "urbanam suam -desiderabat." - -In spite of the contempt which ancient writers all manifest for these -wine-shops and inns, we remark that men of the senatorial order, like -Cicero, did not scorn at times to stop for a few hours on their -summer journey at some country inn like the "Three Taverns," in the -neighborhood of Rome, to call for a letter or to write one. This was -the same "Tres Tabernæ" to which the Roman Christians went out to meet -the Apostle Paul, to welcome him with brotherly greetings after the -trials of his Christian Odyssey. We read in the Acts of the Apostles -how great his joy was when he saw them, and how "he thanked God and -took courage." He had no need, however, of the tavern. The hospitality -of Christian fraternity, which he had praised so beautifully in his -message to the Roman community, now received him with open arms. - -The very name "tavern," which in its Latin original means a small -wooden house built of "tabulæ," or blocks, indicates the very modest -origins of professional hospitality. And we must distinguish, in the -olden times as in the Middle Ages, between hospitality proper, which -takes the guest in overnight, and the mere charity which refreshes him -with food and drink and sends him on his way. - -The original sign of the tavern-keeper is the wreath of ivy with -which Bacchus and his companions are crowned, and which twines around -the Bacchante's thyrsos staff. As the ivy is evergreen, so is Bacchus -ever young ("juvenis semper"), Shakespeare's "eternal boy." As the ivy -winds its closely clinging vine around all things, so Bacchus enmeshes -the senses of men. Thus the custom grew of crowning the wine-jars with -ivy, a custom which Matthias Claudius, in his famous Rhine wine song, -has described thus:-- - - "Crown with ivy the good full jars - And drink them to the lees. - In all of Europe, my jolly tars, - You'll find no wines like these." - -Now, whether a good wine really needed the recommendation of the -wreath was a question on which experts were not agreed. In general, -the ancients leaned to the opinion that "good wine needs no -bush"--"Vino vendibili suspensa hedera non opus est." The French later -expressed the same idea in their proverb, "À bon vin point -d'enseigne"; though La Fontaine seems to have been of a different mind -when he said, "L'enseigne fait la chalandise." And Shakespeare enters -the controversy in his epilogue to "As You Like It," when he makes -Rosalind say, "If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 'tis true -that a good play needs no epilogue." An English humorist, George -Greenfield of Henfield (whoever he may be), is fully of the opinion -that there is no need of the bush: "No, certainly not," says he; "all -that is wanted is a corkscrew and a clean glass or two." - -It is perfectly natural that gloomy and distrustful natures like -Schopenhauer's should have no confidence in the sign. He uses the word -"sign" always as a synonym for deceit. He calls academic chairs -"tavern signs of wisdom"; and illuminations, bands, processions, -cheers, and the like, "tavern signs of joy"--"whereas real joy is -generally absent, having declined to attend the feast." Wieland shows -the same mistrust in his verses of Amadis:-- - - "The finest looks prove only for the soul - What gilded signs prove for the tavern-bowl." - -On the other hand, happy optimistic natures like Fischart's, the -author of the famous "Ship of Fools" ("Narrenschiff"), and perhaps of -its jolly woodcuts as well, give full credence to a handsome sign. -"How shall you think," says he, "that poor wine can go with so brave a -sign displayed, or that so neat an inn can harbor a slovenly host or -guest?" - -We can see what an important business the making of wreaths was in -ancient times by the place which the Amorettes, who were engaged in -this work, had in the favorite Pompeian wall frescoes, which portray -Cupids in varied activities. We look into the workshop where a small -winged figure is working industrially twining garlands; or into the -sale-shop where a tiny Psyche is asking the price of a wreath. The -winged saleslady answers her in the finger language which the Italians -still use: "Since it is you, pretty maiden, only two ases." - -A very favorite tavern sign in the later times also dates from high -antiquity, namely, the pentagram, triangles intersecting so as to make -this figure [* hexagram symbol]. The Pythagoreans held this as a -talisman of health and protection. The Northern myths called the sign -a footprint of a swan-footed animal. They called it the "Drudenfuss," -and thought it would protect men against evil spirits like the -"Trude," a female devil-nixie which harassed sleepers. We see the sign -in the study-scene in the first part of "Faust"; and remark how evil -spirits and the devil himself could slip into human habitations if the -pentagram before the door was not fully closed at the apexes--but had -a hard time getting out again. The elfish verses are well known:-- - - "_Mephistopheles_: I must confess it! just a little thing - Prevents my getting out beyond the threshold: That is the - Drudenfuss before the door. - - "_Faust_: Ah, then the pentagram is in thy way! So tell me - then, abandoned son of Hell, If that can stop thee how thou - camest in; Can such a spirit be so tricked and caught! - - "_Mephistopheles_: Look closely! It is badly drawn: one angle, - The one that's pointing outward, is not closed. - - "_Faust_: Ah, that's a lucky fall of fortune then; It makes - thee willy-nilly captive here." - -Besides wreath and pentagram, we find among the ancients a third -customary sign of hospitality, namely, a chessboard, which invited the -passer-by to a game of draughts along with a draught of wine. The game -was not chess, for that came to Europe from the East in the -post-classical age. Hogarth's engraving "Beerstreet" shows us that -this sign prevailed in old England, for the characteristic signpost in -front of the tavern door is painted in black and white checkered -squares. - -Painted and carved animal images also served as signs in Roman times. -We have a few examples left, and the names of a great many more. In -Pompeii there was a little inn called the "Elephant," in which one -could rent a dining-room with three couches and all modern comforts -("cum commodis omnibus"). The sign represents an elephant, around -whose body a serpent is entwined, and to whose defense a dwarf is -running. It was an animal scene on an old sign that inspired Phædron -with his fable of the battle of the rats and the weasels; so the -author tells us at the opening of his poem: "Historia quorum et in -tabernis pingitur." Perhaps the host of the "Elephant" had an ancestor -in the African wars, and in his honor chose the African animal as a -sign; just as the host of the "Cock," in the Roman Forum, hung out for -a sign a Cimbric shield captured in the old wars against Germania. On -the shield he had painted a stately rooster with the inscription: -"Imago galli in scuto Cimbrico picta." The choice of the elephant, -however, might be due simply to the preference which tavern-keepers -showed for strange and wonderful beasts. For the traveler would first -stop and stare at the queer animal, and then, like as not, turn in at -the door, half expecting that the wily host might be harboring the -very beast in real life. There was a grand elephant sign on a -Strassburg tavern, which invited to a hospitable table the young -students of the town, especially the law students--among them a young -man named Goethe. The elephant stood erect on his hind legs, and the -toast of the students was: "à l'élève en droit" (à l'éléphant droit). - -Among other figures of animals on Roman signs the eagle was a great -favorite. The Romans bore the eagle on their standards, after having -long accorded the honor to the she-wolf, the minotaur, and the wild -boar. The Corinthians likewise carried a Pegasus, and the Athenians an -owl, on their banners. The sign was closely related to the banner: it -was a kind of rigid flag. We shall see later, in the Dutch pictures, -how, at the jolly kermess, flag and shield together invited the -peasant to drink and dance. In mediæval France the tavern hosts hung -out flags on which the sign was painted or woven in colors. The French -word "enseigne" means originally a flag: "Le signe militaire sous -lequel se rangent les soldats," as the classic definition in Diderot's -famous _Encyclopédie_ runs. A secondary definition is: "Le petit -tableau pendu à une boutique." - -The Romans seldom had signs that hung free, such as the Cimbric shield -described above. Generally their signs were paintings or reliefs on a -wall. There were in the shops of Pompeii depressions in the wall made -especially to receive these signs. So, too, the so-called "dealbator" -whitewashed a place on the wall for the election bulletins. Sometimes -the painter used wood or glass as the ground for his sign. - -We find all the Roman animal signs--storks, bears, dragons, as well as -the eagle, the cock, and the elephant--in the later Christian ages. It -is not impossible that the eagle signs of later days are the direct -descendants of the old Roman eagle; and they probably existed in most -of the old towns founded by the Romans--Mayence, Speyer, Worms, -Basel, Constance. The names that have come down to us are chiefly of -taverns in the African colonies. Here we find, curiously enough, the -wheel ("ad rotam"), the symbol of St. Catherine, which we shall meet -later in Christian lands; for example, in a picturesque sign in the -old town of Ravensburg in Württemberg. - -[Illustration: Zumwilden Mann Eßlingen] - -In Spain we find the Moor ("ad Maurum") who kept his popularity for -centuries. In Sardinia, Hercules, the pattern of the later hero with -the "big stick," as he appears in the German sign at Esslingen. Some -of the inns had names of heathen divinities, like Diana, or Mercury, -the god of commerce, or Apollo, whose emblem the sun shed its inviting -rays from so many a tavern portal in fair and foul weather alike. A -tavern in Lyons was named "Ad Mercurium et Apollinem": "Mercurius hic -lucrum permittit, Apollo salutem" ("Here Mercury dispenses prosperity, -and Apollo health"). It is possible that these taverns had gods as -signs, just as in the Middle Ages the streets abounded in images of -the Madonna and saints, which invited the traveler to turn in for -profit or pleasure. Tertullian tells us that there was not a public -bath or tavern without its image of a god: "balnea et stabula sine -idolo non sunt." After the victory of Christianity the images of the -gods were cheap: tavern-keepers could buy them for a few obols. We can -little doubt that among this "rubbish" was many a precious work of art -which the museums of to-day would be proud to own. - -It would be hard to say whether an unbroken tradition connects the -signs of the Middle Ages with those of like name in classical -antiquity. Many a sign may have been invented anew. But that we have -learned much directly from the old Romans in the field of hospitality -is proved by a curious fact. The Bavarian Knödel, which every true -Bajuware claims as an indigenous, national institution, are prepared -to-day exactly like the old Roman "globuli," after the recipes of -Columella and Varro. Such, at least, is the assurance of Herr von -Liebenau in his interesting book on Swiss hospitality. - -We remarked above that it was by their roads especially that the -Romans extended their power over all the world. We must notice now -briefly the Roman post-system, the "cursus publicus," whose coaches -probably carried travelers from tavern to tavern like the modern -mail-coaches. We must, however, curb the imagination of the reader -with a reminder that practically only the state officials used this -service. Not every country bumpkin could mount with market-basket on -his arm, to make a jolly journey over hill and dale to the sound of -the echoing horn. Still the Emperor or his prefect could issue -tickets to private persons; and furthermore, these persons could, -under certain circumstances, get a sort of Cook's ticket, called -"diploma tractoria," which included board and lodging as well as -transportation. If the journey lay through a lonely region, where -there were no private taverns to provide shelter for the night, the -traveler might put up at the state inn ("mansio") which the province -was obliged to maintain at public cost, with all the necessities and -comforts to which respectable Roman travelers were accustomed. One can -well understand how, as the empire disintegrated, the provincials were -glad to throw off this hated compulsory tax for the support of the -state inn. It was not till the time of Charlemagne that the -institution was revived as a military-feudal service along the routes -of the imperial army. Whether these Roman state inns displayed signs -or not, we do not know. It is, however, very likely that they were -distinguished by the sign of the Roman eagle, and so became the type -of the later private eagle inns. - -Here let us remark that the post-coaches of our own day, which seem to -us an institution dating from the Deluge, are a comparatively late -invention. The first so-called "land-coach" in Germany was established -between Ulm and Heidelberg in the year 1683. Through all the Middle -Ages and the Renaissance period, we depended on mounted messengers, -traveling cloister brothers, university students, and rare travelers -to carry messages. In Württemberg, where we find to-day the most -abundant reminders of the good old post-coach days, and consequently -the finest old signs, bands of "noble post-boys" are found, including -the distinguished names of Trotha and Hutten. - -That the common workman, even in the Roman days, had to use "shank's -mare" when he went traveling goes without saying. But the well-to-do -burgher or trader who had no license to ride in the state post-coach -rode on his horse or his high mule. Horse and saddle remained for -centuries the only method of travel after the Roman roads had fallen -into that state of dilapidation from which they fully recovered only -in the days of Napoleon. One needs only to look at the coaches of -princes in past centuries to see for what bottomless mud-bogs these -lumbering vehicles were built. Montaigne rode on horseback from his -home in Bordeaux to the baths of southern France and Italy, although -he seems, from the entries in his diary, to have been very much -afflicted with "distempers." - -A late Roman relief found in Isernia (in Samnium)--a kind of tavern -sign--shows us a traveler holding his mule by the bridle as he takes -leave of the hostess and pays his account. The traveler has on his -cloak and hood. The hood, even up to Seume's time (i.e., up to the end -of the eighteenth century), was generally worn by travelers in Italy, -and especially in Sicily: "My mule-driver showed a tender solicitude -for me," wrote Seume, "and gave me his hood. He could not understand -how I dared to travel without one. This peculiar kind of dark-brown -mantle with its pointed headgear is the standard dress in all Italy, -and especially in Sicily. I took a great fancy to it, and if I may -judge from this night's experience, I have a great inclination toward -Capuchin vows, for I slept very well." - -[Illustration: ROMAN·TAVERN·SIGN·FROM·ISERNIA] - -We have had to confine ourselves in the treatment of ancient signs -entirely to Roman examples, for we have very little knowledge of Greek -signs. In fact, the tavern sign seems to have come late into Greece, -through Roman influence. We hear of a tavern "The Camel" at the -Piræus, also of a sailors' inn having the sign in relief: a boiled -calf's head and four calf's feet. - -We shall later see what an important part signs played in directing -travelers in a city through the Middle Ages and even in modern times. -They took the place of house numbers and street names. In ancient Rome -a whole quarter was often named after an inn, like the "Bear in the -Cap" ("vicus ursi pileati"). This is the longest-lived bear in -history: he lives even to-day. An excellent German tavern guide, Hans -Barth, writes in his delightful little book "Osteria": "On the quay of -the Tiber was the famous old inn of the Bear, where Charlemagne -lodged, because the Cafarelli Palace was not yet built; where Father -Dante frolicked with the pussy-cats; where Master Rabelais raised -his famous bumpers of wine." In Montaigne's time the Bear was so -frightfully stylish an inn, with its rooms hung with gilded leather, -that the essayist stayed there only two days and then forthwith sought -a private lodging. - -[Illustration: Campana and Canone d'Oro Borgo San Dalmazzo, Italy] - -In modern Italy there are only a few interesting signs. The most -delightful ones (the Golden Cannon, and the Bell) we found in the main -street of the North Italian mountain town of Borgo San Dalmazzo. The -"White Horse" ("cavallo bianco") was a little off the main street. The -form of these was probably influenced by the proximity of -Switzerland--a country very rich in beautiful signs. - -Seume, who had the finest opportunity for studying taverns and signs -in his walking tour from Leipzig to Syracuse, often mentions the name -of his inn; as, for instance, "Hell" in Imola, or the "Elephant" in -Catania. But there was only one Italian town in which the signs -impressed him: that was Lodi. "The people of Lodi," he writes, "must -be very imaginative if one can judge them from their signs. One of -them, over a shoemaker's shop, represents a Genius taking a man's -measure--a motif which reminds one of Pompeii." - -Our excellent guide, who has an eye for everything picturesque, does -not seem to have met much of interest from Verona to Capri. An -exception was the "Osteria del Penello," in Florence, on the Piazza -San Martino, a tavern established about the year 1500 by Albertinelli, -the friend of Raphael. On the sign over the door was the jolly curly -head of the founder, who, when the envy of his colleagues poisoned the -work of his brush, here established a tavern. An inscription read: -"Once I painted flesh and blood, and earned only contempt; now I give -flesh and blood, and all men praise my good wine." - -Barth also mentions, by the way, the characteristic wall-paintings of -Italy that rest on the old Roman tradition and yet serve as tavern -signs, like the "Three Madonnas" of the Porta Pincia in Rome: "A -portal decorated with three pictures of the Mother of God leads into -the green garden court." - -Lest the thought of a religious painting serving as a tavern sign -should shock any of our readers, we hasten to turn to the study of -religious hospitality and its emblems. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -ECCLESIASTICAL HOSPITALITY AND ITS SIGNS - -[Illustration: Lamm Erlenbach, Württemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -ECCLESIASTICAL HOSPITALITY AND ITS SIGNS - - "Use hospitality one to another without grudging." - - I Peter IV, 9. - - -Rome was to conquer the northern Germanic world once more, not with -the sword as had been the case in the olden days of a pagan Rome, but -with the cross and its exponent, the monk. The northward surging -wave of Roman Cæsarism had been followed by the tidal wave, -southward-roaring, of Germanic barbarians. The orderly life of one -vast empire gave way to the restlessness and insecurity of the period -of migration and a shattered empire. Not individuals but whole peoples -go a-traveling with household goods and wife and children, whole towns -and countries become their inns, the standard of the conquerors are -their tavern signs. Then again flowing northward, progressing by -insensible stages, comes the silent throng of monastic brotherhoods, -the Benedictines in the van, who bring forth various orders from -their midst, the Cistercians among others, who dig and reclaim the -soil with their spades and later, as builders, dedicate it to their -God, unknown and now revealed, with high-soaring monuments of worship. - -Undaunted by solitude, fearless of the wildness of desolate regions, -they enter the forest primeval to clear it and establish quiet -homesteads for themselves and their worship; their doors are open to -all those who pass their way. For had not St. Benedict, mindful of -repeated apostolic admonitions to the bishops, included hospitality in -the rules of his order? Therefore ere long there lacked not in any -convent certain rooms given over to the comfort of the wayfarer, be it -a "hospitium," a "hospitale," or a "receptaculum." Witness the Hospice -of the Great St. Bernard in the Alps of the Vallais, named after the -pious founder of that earliest of Occidental orders, part of the -convent erected in the ninth century by the bishops of Lausanne, while -the shelter on Mont Cenis is said to date back to a past equally -remote. Beginning with the year 1000, convents likewise erect inns in -the villages, outside of their immediate domains, leasing these -against rental, while in the towns pilgrim inns, poor men's taverns, -and "Seelhäuser" are endowed for the free housing of pilgrims and -wayfarers, evolving later into town inns. - -To the pilgrim, then, who wended his way to the tombs of saints, and, -in the crusade times, to the holiest of graves in Jerusalem, mediæval -hospitality is mainly devoted. The crusaders were agents of especial -power in the development of hospitality, since on his lengthy journey -the pilgrim stood in need, not only of food and shelter, but also of -convoy along roads perilous everywhere. The Knights of St. John set -themselves these two tasks, to care for the pilgrims and escort them -in safety, which is implied by their name "fratres hospitales S. -Johannis." In the rule of their order (ca. 1118) the foremost duty of -lay as well as clerical brothers was to serve the poor, "our lords." -With like intent of safeguarding pilgrims the Order of Knights -Templars was instituted in 1119, especially for the care of German -pilgrims. We may venture to assume from their name, "Order of the -German House of our dear Lady in Jerusalem," that a homelike Madonna -picture adorned their hospitable house as a pious welcome. Shakespeare -has inimitably described the warlike duties of these orders, duties -which went hand in hand with kindly care and hospitality, in the first -part of "Henry IV":-- - - "To chase these pagans, in those holy fields - Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet - Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nailed - For our advantage, on the bitter cross." - -These knightly orders, whose hospitable roofs originally sheltered the -pious pilgrims bound for Jerusalem, also opened in welcome the gates -of their proud houses at home, which still adorn more than one old -German town. When Luther was summoned to Worms by the Emperor, in -1521, he stayed with the Knights of St. John. Here in this noble inn -he exclaimed to his friends, after the ordeal, with upraised arms, and -face shining with joy: "I am through, I am through." Like an enduring -rock he had stood his ground and had expressed his unalterable will to -be a free Christian in those famous words: "Hier stehe ich, ich kann -nicht anders, Gott helfe mir! Amen." - -In like manner Luther had accepted ecclesiastical hospitality on his -journey Romeward, as a young monk, notably on the part of the Order of -St. Augustine. From the pages of that Baedeker of the fifteenth -century, the "Mirabilia Romae," we can realize how thoroughly a -pilgrimage to Rome was viewed in those days as a pious journey to -hallowed places, relics and tombs of the saints. The work referred to -appeared first as a block-book, with pictures and text both printed -from the same wood block. The youthful monk may well have carried such -an early copy of the "Mirabilia" in his cowl when he entered the holy -precincts of the Eternal City, which revealed itself to his great -disillusionment as an ungodly spot and the seat of Anti-Christ. -Occasionally we also see the great reformer descending at a lay -tavern, such as the famous inn of the High Lily in Erfurt, which -subsequently saw within its walls great warriors like Maurice of -Saxony and Gustavus Adolphus. - -To this day there is in England a hospital founded by the Knights of -St. John, in which every wayfarer can obtain bread and ale upon -request. This is the "Hospital of St. Cross without the walls of -Winchester," as it is called in a document in the British Museum; -ceded by the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem to Richard -Toclive, Bishop of Winchester, in 1185, the bishop raising the number -of poor there entertained from 113 to 213, of whom 200 were to be fed -and 13 fed and clothed. Emerson once made a pilgrimage to the -hospital, claimed and received the victuals, and triumphantly quoted -the incident as a proof of the majestic stabilities of English -institutions. In his wake numberless Americans yearly wend their way -to the Hospital of the Holy Cross, and to the beautiful Minster of -Winchester embedded in verdure. There they lodge either at the -"George," or, more cozily yet, in the ancient "God begot House" of a -type found, perhaps, in England only. - -Another American no less renowned, Mark Twain, the "New Pilgrim," as -he styled himself, has felt on his own physical self the blessings of -clerical hospitality in Palestine, the land of ecclesiastic -foundations, which he celebrates as follows in his "Innocents Abroad": -"I have been educated to enmity toward all that is Catholic, and -sometimes, in consequence of this, I find it much easier to discover -Catholic faults than Catholic merits. But there is one thing I feel no -disposition to overlook, and no disposition to forget: and that is, -the honest gratitude I and all pilgrims owe to the Convent Fathers in -Palestine. Their doors are always open, and there is always a welcome -for any worthy man who comes, whether he comes in rags or clad in -purple.... A pilgrim without money, whether he be a Protestant or a -Catholic, can travel the length and breadth of Palestine, and in the -midst of her desert wastes find wholesome food and a clean bed every -night, in these buildings.... Our party, pilgrims and all, will always -be ready and always willing to touch glasses and drink health, -prosperity, and long life to the Convent Fathers in Palestine." - -We may well believe that private individuals then as now bid for the -patronage of pilgrims. Shakespeare tells us of a case in point, in his -"All's Well that Ends Well" (Act III, Sc. V). Helena appears in -Florence in search of her husband gone to the wars, "clad in the dress -of a pilgrim," and inquires where the palmers lodge. A kindly widow -tells her "at the Franciscans here near the port"; but knows how to -win the fair pilgrim by her words:-- - - "I will conduct you where you shall be lodged - The rather, for, I think, I know your hostess - As ample as myself." - -If, on the other hand, we consider how pilgrims made their long -journey more toilsome yet, as related by Helena herself,-- - - "Barefoot plod I the cold ground upon - With sainted vow my faults to have amended,"-- - -we shall appreciate how gratefully the proffer of the good widow must -have been accepted. The hospitality of the monks was not always -lavish; on the contrary, it proved scant and poor, as Germany's -greatest troubadour, Walter von der Vogelweide, to his sorrow -experienced. Once he turned aside more than four miles from his road -in order to visit the far-famed convent of Tegernsee. The learned -monks, whose library forms to-day one of the treasures of the State -Library in Munich, may have been too deeply engrossed in the -transcription of a classic author, or in elaborate miniature -paintings; at any rate, they did not realize what noble guest sat at -their board and brought him--not the choice vintage which the thirsty -poet expected but simply water:-- - - "Ich schalt sie nicht, doch genade Gott uns beiden, - Ich nahm das Wasser, also nasser - Musst ich von des Mönches Tische scheiden." - -If guests were thus given cause for complaints of their treatment by -the convents, the monks on their side had no less ground for -occasional displeasure at the abuse of their hospitality. Carlyle -cites an instance of this kind in "Past and Present"; the excellent -abbot, Simon of Edmundsbury, had forbidden tournaments within his -domain. In spite of this prohibition twenty-four young nobles arranged -a knightly joust under his very nose, so to speak. Not content with -that, they rode gayly to the convent at its conclusion and demanded -supper and a night's lodging. "Here is modesty," says Carlyle. "Our -Lord Abbot, being instructed of it, orders the Gates to be closed; the -whole party shut in. The morrow was the vigil of the Apostles Peter -and Paul; no out-gate on the morrow. Giving their promise not to -depart without permission, those four-and-twenty young bloods dieted -all that day with the Lord Abbot waiting for trial on the morrow." -And now Carlyle cites his own source the "Jocelini Chronica": But -"after dinner"--mark it, posterity!--"the Lord Abbot retiring into his -Talamus, they all started up, and began carolling and singing; sending -into the Town for wine; drinking and afterwards howling -(ululantes);--totally depriving the Abbot and Convent of their -afternoon's nap; doing all this in derision of the Lord Abbot, and -spending in such fashion the whole day till evening, nor would they -desist at the Lord Abbot's order! Night coming on, they broke the -bolts of the Town-Gates, and went off by violence!" - -Not only had convents to suffer from such exuberant guests; oftener -far they were burdened by those who forgot to depart and continue -their journey. The abbot, Herboldus Gutegotus of Murrhardt, the -convent whose romantic church still ranks among the finest -ecclesiastical monuments in Germany, used to tell such forgetful -guests the following little story: "Do you know why our Lord remained -but three days in his tomb?--Because during that time he was making a -friendly visit to the patriarchs and prophets in Paradise. So in order -not to cause them inconvenience he took timely leave and resurrected -upon the third day." Evidently the refined abbot knew how to veil -politely the old Germanic directness which finds such clear expression -in the "Edda": - - "Go on betimes, loiter not as a guest ever in our abode; - He, though loved, becomes burdensome, who warms himself - too long at hospitable fires." - -In wild and inhospitable countries, the convents long remained, even -till recent times, the only shelters for travelers. Hence, when Henry -VIII of England began to confiscate monastic property on a grand -scale, a significant revolt for their reinstallment flamed up in the -north of England,--the so-called "Pilgrimage of Grace" of the year -1536, which was suppressed with deplorable sternness. The convents -were very popular in those parts because the monks had been the only -physicians and their doors were always open to all wayfarers. - -Chaucer shows us in his "Canterbury Tales" that monks could be -pleasant guests as well as good hosts, for there we read in regard to -the friar: "He knew well the tavernes in every town"; and "What should -he studie and make himself wood?" - -Having thus pictured to ourselves the clerical hospitality of the -Middle Ages, we shall not wonder that, in outward signs for the -designation of the houses as inns, religious subjects and their -pictorial presentation were adopted. - -Among the saints particularly revered by the pious pilgrims St. -Christopher stands foremost, since he had himself experienced so -perilous a journey. In many mediæval pictures we see him leaning on -his massive staff, carrying the Christ child across a river. The -"Golden Legend" tells us that he was nearly drowned, so heavy was the -burden of this child. "Had I carried the whole world," he says, when -finally reaching the shore, "my burden could have been no heavier"; -whereupon the child of whose identity he was not yet aware: "for a -sign that you have carried on your shoulders not only the world but -the Creator, thrust this staff into the ground near your hut, and -behold, it will blossom and bear fruit." Hence the partiality for huge -pictures of St. Christopher, visible afar, such as we find -occasionally to this day in and upon certain churches; for instance, -the spacious mural paintings in the church of St. Alexander at -Marbach, the birthplace of Schiller, close to the tracks on which the -modern traveler thunders past; or the gigantic sculpture on the south -side of the cathedral in Amiens, or the large fresco in the minster at -Erfurt. They give us a conception of similar presentations on Poor -Men's Inns and ecclesiastical hospices. The belief in the efficacious -protection by the saint, especially from sudden death, is expressed in -the French mediæval saying: "Qui verra Saint Christophe le matin, rira -le soir." The tenacity of this belief among the people is well -instanced by the fact that the jewelers of so worldly a city as Nice -sell to owners of automobiles little silver plaques, with the picture -of the saint and the inscription, "Regarde St. Christophe et puis -va-t-en rassuré." Let us hope, in the interest of the rest of mankind, -that these motorists do not feel too reassured in consequence. - -American readers might be interested to hear that in their own country -a guest-house of St. Christopher gives refuge to the modern fraternity -of tramps, charitably called the "Brother Christophers" by the Friars -of the Atonement, who founded this house at Gray Moor, near the -beautiful residential district of Garrison, in the State of New York. - -Another saint, deservedly in great favor, is St. George, who slew the -dragon, a knightly patron who smooths the traveler's path and makes it -safe by brushing aside all its threatening dangers. Two of the finest -hostelries still existing are named after him: the "Ritter" in -Heidelberg, and the "George," more ancient yet by a century, in the -time-hallowed town of Glastonbury. Two miracles have drawn pilgrims to -the latter place since olden times, the "Holy Thornbush," which had -blossomed forth from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea and bloomed -every Christmas, and the "Holy Well," in the garden of the cloister -school, now deserted, whose waters were to heal the bodily ailments of -the pious pilgrims. The throng of wayfarers to the convent, whose -gigantic abbot's kitchen is eloquent of hospitality on a large scale, -made the establishment of a pilgrim's inn outside the walls -imperative. First they erected the "Abbot's Inn," and when this proved -insufficient--at the end of the fifteenth century--the elegant Gothic -structure was erected, which bears to this day the ensign "Pilgrim's -Inn," but is popularly known as "The George," from a likeness of the -saint which once adorned the handsome bracket so happily wedded to the -architecture of the house. The tourist undaunted by fearsome -reminiscences may ask to be given the choice apartment there, the -so-called "abbot's chamber," where Henry VIII rested on the day when -he ordered the last abbot hung on the town gate. The fine four-poster, -it is true, has been sold to a fancier of antiquities and replaced by -a new canopied bed, but despite this the room retains its mediæval -appearance. - -About a hundred years later, the delightful Renaissance structure, -"Zum Ritter," was erected in Heidelberg. Originally the house of a -wealthy Frenchman, it was subsequently changed into a hostelry and -took its name from the knight on the peak of the gable. Doubtless no -one has ever sung the praise of this noble building more worthily than -Victor Hugo, who visited Heidelberg in 1838, and passed by the house -of St. George every morning, as he said, "pour faire déjeuner mon -esprit." Jokingly he observes that the Latin inscription (Psalm 127, -I) has protected the inn better than the little iron plate of the -insurance firm. As a matter of fact neither the great conflagration of -1635, during the Thirty Years' War, nor the fires started under Mélac -and Maréchal de Lorges, in 1689 and 1693, could harm this inn, while -"all the other houses built without the Lord were burnt to the -ground." - -In England the good knight St. George was an especial favorite; even -in the middle of the last century there were in London alone no less -than sixty-six hostelries of that name. Truly, the pious meaning of -old associated with the sign had long been forgotten by hosts and -guests alike, so that as early as the seventeenth century these -mocking lines were penned:-- - - "To save a mayd St. George the Dragon slew-- - A pretty tale, if all is told be true. - Most say there are no dragons, and 'tis said - There was no George; pray God there was a mayd." - -The pictures of the "valiant knight's" mount were often so dubious -that a connoisseur of horses like Field Marshal Moltke, writing from -Kösen, Thuringia, construed it as the picture of a mad dog. On the -other hand, we have such charming conceptions of St. George as the -sign here shown, from the hamlet of Degerloch, delightfully situated -on the heights overlooking Stuttgart, a notable artistic achievement -in wrought iron, interesting, moreover, for the associations of merry -chase linked with the saint in the mind of the country folk. - -[Illustration: Degerloch] - -Among other saints frequently chosen for tavern signs, St. Martin must -be mentioned. At times he appears in like manner as does St. -Christopher; for instance, on the large reliefs decorating the façade -of the minster in Basle: a friend of the needy, dividing his cloak -with his sword, to share it with them; thus the pious saint lives on -in the minds of the people. At the season of the new wine, the 21st of -November, the Church commemorates his name: "A la saint Martin, faut -goûter le vin," is the French saying. - -At the sign of St. Dominic too, whose meaning of religious hospitality -had been utterly perverted in the course of time, stanch topers used -to congregate for joyous orgies. Proudly they called themselves -"Dominican"; and - - "Bons ivrognes et grands fumeurs - Qui ne cessent jamais de boire" - -is their interpretation of such strange affiliation, in a song of the -seventeenth century. - -St. Urban has likewise figured on many a tavern sign. Once upon a time -he took refuge from his pursuers behind a grapevine, and for that -reason he has become a patron saint of vintners and tavern hosts. -"Alas," exclaims the refined Erasmus of Rotterdam, "mine host is not -always as 'urbane' as he should be to justify this patronage." - -[Illustration: THE GOOD WOMAN] - -There is one sign whose religious origin is not self-evident, namely, -the "Femme sans tête." Yet the figure has its origin, no doubt, in -mediæval representations of saints after decapitation, sometimes shown -with the head in the hands. Whoever has perused the illustrated "Lives -of the Saints" with their many horrible mutilations of the martyrs -depicted in woodcuts, must have realized that their moral influence on -the popular imagination cannot have been of a beneficial nature. Even -great artists did not hesitate to celebrate such awful scenes with the -power of their genius. Among the drawings of Dürer we see the -executioner with his great sword ready to behead St. Catherine. -Nothing so disgusted Goethe in his Italian journey as all the painted -atrocities perpetrated on the martyrs. The most peculiar example of -this form of art is probably that in the Tower of London. It is a set -of horse armor presented, apparently without malice, by Emperor -Maximilian to Henry VIII of England, embellished with the most -gruesome scenes of martyrdom. In the Tower, where so much innocent -blood has flowed, one feels doubly repulsed by such excrescences of -so-called religious art: one is even tempted to accept the popular -conception of these beheaded saints as comforting symbols of -forgetfulness. In fact, the oil merchants chose the "woman without -head" as their sign, as one of the foolish virgins of the parable who -had neglected to provide themselves in good time with the necessary -oil: a warning example to delaying, unwilling customers. - -A coarser interpretation of the figure styles it as the "silent -woman," or as the "good woman," who can no longer do mischief with her -tongue. Moreover, one finds this most gallant of signs--which should -be unmentionable in these days of woman's emancipation--not only in -outspoken Holland, with the words: "Goede vrouw een mannen plaag" but -also in Italy; in Turin, for instance, styled as "La buona moglie." -The most polite people on earth--I do not mean the Chinese, but the -French--have named a street in Paris the "Rue de la Femme sans Tête" -after a tavern of like appellation. Young Gavarni stayed awhile in the -"Auberge de la Femme sans Tête" in Bayonne, as the Goncourts tell us, -and waxed eloquent about the dainty charms of the "vierge du cabaret," -the tavern-keeper's daughter. - -Ben Jonson, who loved to discuss with Shakespeare in the Siren Club -and to "anatomize the times deformity," may have been stimulated to -write his comedy "The Silent Woman" by the tavern sign of that name. -In Jonson's play, a Mr. Morose, an original old fellow, who holds all -noise in detestation, weds a young lady, whose barely audible voice -and scant replies have charmed him. When after the ceremony she -reveals herself a loquacious scold and he gives vent to his -disappointment, she replies with these endearing words: "Why, did you -think you had married a statue, or a motion only? one of the French -puppets, with the eyes turned with a wire? or some innocent out of the -hospital that would stand with her hands thus, and a plaise mouth, -and look upon you?" - -But to comfort the feminists we should speak of a host truly gallant, -who had a great white sign made, with the inscription below, "The Good -Man." To the universal inquiry, "Where is the good man? I can't see -him," he made answer, "Well, you see that is why I have left the blank -space; if only I could find him." - -Since there is a saint for every day of the calendar, we must not be -astonished to find names among those adopted for tavern signs which to -us bear no relation to sanctity; such as St. Fiacre over a drivers' -bar, which seems rather the invention of some wag. - -We must needs realize that all these religious signs have their origin -in a time when popular imagination was mainly filled with the -happenings of the Bible and the legends of the saints; when religion -had not yet grown to be a Sunday occupation of a couple of hours, but -was most intimately interwoven with the life of every day. Hence we -find among subjects for signs not the saints only, whose human errors -and sufferings have riveted a bond between them and the common -people, but also the Deity itself. "La Trinité" was one of the latter -in mediæval France, as evidenced by this passage in the song of a -pilgrim:-- - - "De la alay plus oultre encore - En un logis d'antiquité - Qui se nomme la Trinité." - -Other pilgrim taverns styled themselves "A l'image du Christ." We also -meet with such inscriptions as "L'Humanité de Jesus Christ, notre -sauveur divin"; the birth of Christ as a child, as in the charming old -Swiss sign "Hie zum Christkindli"; the Madonna and scenes of her life -like the "Annunciation," called Salutation in England. These and many -other signs, such as "Purgatory," "Hell," and "Paradise," which have -been revived in modern Paris on fantastic cabarets, meet our eyes on -tavern signs. An old enumeration of London bars of the seventeenth -century begins with the words:-- - - "There has been great sale and utterance of wine - Besides beer and ale, and ipocras fine - In every country region and nation - Chefely at Billingsgate, at the Salutation...." - -And when the author tires of mentioning them all by name, he concludes -with:-- - - "And many like places that make noses red." - -Finally, we must turn to those signs, not religious at first sight, -which may well have their origin in attributes of the saints. Thus, we -meet in Swiss towns, which have St. Gall as their local patron, with -the sign of the "Bear"; "Crown" and "Star" are the symbols of the -three magi who followed the star to the lowly tavern in Bethlehem; the -"Wheel" reminds us of the martyrdom of St. Catherine; the "Stag" may -be a reminder of the legend of St. Hubert; while the "Bell," once -used by St. Anthony to drive away the demons by its sound, was -fastened on the neck of animals to preserve them from epidemic -diseases. We often see the bell, in old woodcuts, fastened round the -neck of the little pig which accompanies the saint. The bell assumed a -very worldly meaning, when it called the tipplers to their merry -gatherings, which called forth in England the patriotic rhyme:-- - - "Let the King - Live Long! - Dong Ding - Ding Dong!" - -The Tower of St. Barbara grew into an independent tavern sign, which, -misunderstood, occasionally changed into a cage. Even the platter on -which rested the head of the Baptist is deformed into the "Plat -d'argent" over a tavern door. Hogarth does not refrain from -introducing a sign in his engraving "Noon," of 1738, showing the -Baptist's head on a charger, with the cynical inscription "Good -Eating." Whether such coarsenesses were actually perpetrated, even -under the lax régime of Charles II in England, when frivolity reigned -after the fall of Cromwell, it is hard to decide. Possibly they may be -set down as brutal outcroppings of the satirist's truth-deforming -brain. The fact is, that even in the sixteenth century the abuse of -religious subjects for the most disreputable resorts roused the -indignation of serious, thinking men. Thus a certain Artus Désiré -indignantly laments, in a rhymed broadside, that the tavern-keepers -dare place over houses where the great hell devil himself is lodged -the images of God and the saints to advertise their vine:-- - - "De dieu les Sainctz sont leur crieurs de vin - Tant au citez que villes et villages, - Et vous mettront dessus les grands passages - Au lieux d'horreur et d'immondicité - Des susditz sainctz les dévotes images - En prophanant leur préciosité." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -SECULAR HOSPITALITY: KNIGHTLY AND POPULAR SIGNS - -[Illustration: Adler Leonberg, Württemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -SECULAR HOSPITALITY: KNIGHTLY AND POPULAR SIGNS - - "In bibliis ich selten las - viel lieber in dem Kruge sass." - - RINGWALDT, 1582. - - -The heavy castle gates in mediæval times were gladly opened to the -minstrels who came to charm with their art the banquets of the noble -lords and ladies--troubadours and minstrels, the ancestors of that -vast and still thriving fraternity of poets whose blood runs too -quickly through their veins to keep them content in the quiet monotony -of a home. With the sailing clouds, with the migrating birds, and the -rising sun they wander through woods and fields "to be like their -mother the wandering world." With Walt Whitman they love the open road -and hate the confinement of the stuffy room:-- - - "Afoot and light-hearted, I take the open road, - Healthy, free, the world before me, - The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose." - -Never do they feel happier than when the long, long road lies before -them, which now seems to dip down into the green sea of the forests -and now to climb straight into the bright blue heaven. Jean Richepin, -himself a "chemineau," now well settled as an honorable member of the -French Academy, has sung the open road's praise. All poets feel deeply -the words of Kleist, "Life is a journey." And how bitter the journey -often was in the days of the minstrels, how glad they were when the -dark forests and unsafe roads lay behind them and the big hearth-fire -of the castle hall brightened face and soul! Gratefully they praised -the noble lord for his hospitable reception and his kindly welcome. -Thus Walter von der Vogelweide, Germany's greatest minstrel:-- - - "Nun ich drei Höfe weiss, wo Ehrenmänner hausen, - Fehlt mir es nicht an Wein, kann meine Pfanne sausen... - Mir ist nicht not, dass ich nach Herberg fernumher noch streiche." - -Impoverished knights may have occasionally hung out an iron helmet -over the castle door as a sign that they were willing to receive and -to entertain paying guests: certainly a more honorable method of -gaining one's livelihood than to plunder the passing merchant or even -one's own peasants, as was the noble fashion at the end of mediæval -times. But it is more likely that such poor noblemen would first think -of using their city houses for such commercial purposes and not their -lonely and uninviting fortified castles. Here on one of their city -houses, where they used to lodge in time of markets or city -festivities, the first iron helmet perhaps appeared as a knightly -sign. Certain it is that we find inns of such name in France as well -as in Germany, the most famous one in Rothenburg on the Tauber, the -best preserved mediæval city in existence, infinitely more charming -than the much-talked-about Carcassonne, reconstructed by -Viollet-le-Duc with such cold correctness. Here in the quaint hall of -the "_Eisenhut_," under the glittering arms of knights dead and gone, -we will rest awhile and gladden our heart with the golden Tauber wine. -Let the comfort-seeker go to the modern prosaic hotel outside the city -wall! - -The iron helmet is not the only martial tavern sign. Other names -sounded equally well to the soldier's ear: in France "Le Haubert" -(iron shirt), for instance, that might remind us of the old English -inn, "The Tabard," in which Chaucer gathered his joyous pilgrims for -happy meals and amusing conversations; the sword, St. Peter's -attribute, was used as tavern sign in his holy city Rome in the -sixteenth century ("alla spada"); the cannon was very popular as -"canone d'oro" in northern Italy; and many others. - -Like chicks under the wings of the hen, the little huts of the -villagers cluster around the protecting mountain castle of the -knightly lord. Most naturally the village innkeeper, therefore, -chooses his master's escutcheon as a tavern sign. And the landlord in -the town feels equally honored when noble guests leave him, as parting -presents, their coats of arms neatly painted on the panels or the -windows of the dining-room as Montaigne informs us: "Les Alemans sont -fort amoureux d'armoiries; car en tous les logis, il en est une -miliasse que les passans jantilshomes du païs y laissent par les -parois, et toutes leurs vitres en sont fournies." Although a -philosopher Montaigne himself was vain enough to follow the pretty -custom, and occasionally to dedicate his escutcheon to the innkeeper -as a sign of his satisfaction; so in "The Angel" at Plombières, -already a popular resort even in his day, and in Augsburg at "The -Linde," situated near the palace of the rich Fuggers. Like a good -housekeeper, who daily writes his expenses down, he tells us that the -painter, who did his work very well, received "deux escus" or two -dollars, the carpenter "vint solds" or a whole quarter, for the screen -on which the escutcheon was painted and which was placed before the -big green stove. - -The painting of heraldic designs goes back to the time of the -crusaders and soon became the principal source of income of the -painters. In the Netherlands, which grew to be such a wonderful hotbed -of art, the sign-painters were called "Schilderer," for that same -reason, a name which clings to them to the present day. Whoever has -traveled in England knows that the same custom of the nobility, to -give coats of arms to the landlords, prevailed there too. "Mol's -Coffee House" in Exeter, close to the beautiful cathedral, is a good -example. Here Sir Walter Raleigh used to sit in the paneled room on -the second floor, drink a cup of the beverage then quite rare, and -chat with his friends. All along the walls the escutcheons of the -noble visitors of days gone by decorate the quaint old room and every -modern visitor admires them duly, especially that of the valiant but -unhappy seafarer. - -To come back to the heraldic tavern signs, we find everywhere in -German lands, where once the imperial House of Hapsburg ruled, their -coat of arms, the double eagle, and in the domains of the House of -Savoy and the Dukes of Lorraine, the cross. In France the escutcheon -of the Bourbons, the fleur de lys, hangs over the tavern door, and in -England the white horse of the royal House of Hanover. Long before the -Georges, the white horse was a popular symbol in England. The giant -horse, roughly hewn in the chalk of the "White Horse Hill," near -Faringdon, still reminds us of Alfred the Great's victory over the -Danes at Ashdown in 871. In our days the noble white horse has been -degraded into an advertisement for Scotch whiskey--O quæ mutatio -rerum! - -The heraldic meaning of the signs was just as quickly forgotten as -was the pious significance of the religious signs. Only a few notable -animals, such as lions, unicorns, and the like interested the tavern -habitués. - -[Illustration: Zum Rössle Bozen] - -More important than the hospitality under the protection of knights -and sovereigns was the hospitality extended to the traveler behind big -city walls. The city government provided not only lodgings for the -poor pilgrims, tramps, and jobless people, but not infrequently -offered hospitality likewise to the merchant who came to display his -wares in the open vaults of the city hall. In the famous "Rathskeller" -every business transaction was duly celebrated by buyer and seller; -the brotherly act of drinking a glass of wine together seemed to be -the essential finishing-touch which clinched the business. These old -cellars are still a great attraction of the town in many German -places, such as Bremen, Lübeck, or Heilbronn, for instance, and all -travelers are glad to refresh themselves in their quiet vaults. - -A hospitality of more intricate character was given by the guilds, in -their houses, to all the members of the trade or craft. Most naturally -they choose as signs symbols of the special work of each guild. The -fisher and boatmen loved to see a fish, an anchor, or a ship over -their tavern door; but they did not claim these signs as a special -privilege, every "compleat angler," to use Izaak Walton's expression, -as well as every incomplete one, could hang a fish out over his porch -or on his house corner even if he did not keep a tavern. The house -where Dr. Faustus treated his comrades in such miraculous way was -called "Zum Anker" and belonged to a nobleman in Erfurt if we believe -the oldest popular reports of the event. Goethe transferred the scene -to Auerbach's Keller in Leipzig, which was familiar to him from his -happy student-days. Old sea-captains and blue-jackets cannot resist -the temptations of "The Anchor" even if the signboard does not invite -them so charmingly as the one of "The Three Jolly Sailors" in -Castleford:-- - - "Coil up your ropes and anchor here - Till better weather does appear." - -The shoemakers most naturally decorated their guild-house with a -beautiful big boot, a word closely related to the old French "botte," -a large drinking cup, and its diminutive "bouteille," the origin of -the English "bottle." The butchers seldom show the cruel axe, far -oftener the poetical lamb, their oldest sign being the Pascal lamb -holding the little flag of the resurrection. A patriotic English -landlord in the neighborhood of Bath changed the flag into a Union -Jack, forgetting all about the religious meaning of the sign as it -still appears in a French relief "L'Agneau Pascal" in Caen, Rue de -Bayeux. The tavern "Zum guldin Schooffe" in Strassburg, "la vieille -ville allemande" as Victor Hugo called the city quite frankly, is -perhaps the oldest sign of this group. It dates back to the year 1311 -at least. Another butcher sign is the ox or bull, most popular, of -course, in the land of John Bull, where the bull appears in the most -surprising combinations as "Bull and Bell," "Bull and Magpie," "Bull -and Stirrup," and the like. - -The tavern signs of the bakers, "The Crown," "The Sun," or "The Star," -lead us back to old pagan times in which the cakes offered as -sacrifice to the gods were shaped in the same curious forms which we -observe to-day in our various breakfast rolls. Christian legends of -the holy three kings and the star that stood over the stable in -Bethlehem effaced these pagan souvenirs. On the day of Epiphany -especially beautiful crowns were baked; in France the bakers still -follow the old tradition and offer such a crown to each of their -customers as a present, not without hiding a tiny porcelain shoe in -the dough. The happy finder of this shoe becomes the king of the -company. Dutch masters have represented the merry family scene of the -Epiphany dinner, none perhaps so convincingly as Jordaens in the -famous picture, "The King Drinks," in the great gallery of the Louvre. - -"The Star" has always been one of the most popular signs, its gentle -glow seemed to promise the traveler on the dark road a friendly -resting-place after the long, weary day. Sometimes the modern owner of -such a venerable old star-inn promises even more and advertises his -place, in slangy rhyme, as the landlord of "The Star" in York. - - "Here at the sign of Ye Old Starre - You may sup and smoke at your ease - Tip-Top cigars, port above par, - A Host ever ready to please." - -Beside "The Star" and "The Golden Sun," where you drink "the best beer -under the sun," we find "The Moon," especially "The Half-Moon," as -great favorites of the people. The naval victory of 1571 at Lepanto, -where the united Christian fleet destroyed The Turk,--in those days -not a sick man, but rather a robust and aggressive one,--is perhaps -the cause of the popularity of the half-moon. The Virgin Mary, to whom -the pious sailors ascribed the victory, was often represented as -standing on a half-moon, because she was "the woman clothed with the -sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve -stars" whom the poet of the Revelation had seen in his immortal -dreams. Crowned with her diadem of stars she was dear to the seamen, -the "_stella maris_," to whom they lifted their anguished soul in -prayer: "Ave Maria, navigantium stella, quos ad portum tranquillum -vocata conducis." As "light of the world" she was praised in the old -"dialogus consolatorius" where the sinner humbly begs her:-- - - "Festina miseris misereri, virgo beata! - Virgo Maria pia splendens orbisque lucerna - Per tua presidia nos duc ad regna beata!" - -But it is not the half-moon, lying horizontally as a silver bowl in -the Christian presentation of the heavenly queen, which we find on the -tavern sign, but always the standing crescent of the Turkish flag, and -we are glad of it. If we study the life in these half-moon taverns at -the hand of Teniers' pictures and etchings, we find very little that is -Christian and worthy of the sacred symbol of the Revelation. - -Still more popular than the stars of heaven is the animal world on the -tavern sign. The ark of Noah itself and all it contained, every -creeping and flying thing, was welcome over the tavern door in those -days when men and beast, often living under the same roof, as in the -divine inn of Bethlehem, were nearer to each other than they are now. -Nothing less than a tavern zoölogy could give a complete enumeration, -which we prefer to avoid. We will choose only a few which were -especially dear to the people. First of all, naturally, the house -companions,--the cat, "Le Chat qui dort" which found a quiet -resting-place for her old days in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris; the -dog, popular in sport-loving England; the ox and the donkey, even an -elegant mule we find in the "Auberge de la Mule" at Avignon, praised -by Abraham Gölnitz, the Baedeker of the seventeenth century, as a -"logement élégant et agréable." We have already met the cock in Rome -of old, on the Forum, in Holland we see him occasionally as a cavalier -in high boots. The dove, the symbol of the Holy Ghost, decorates the -"Gasthäuser zum Geiste" one of which stood in the old Strassburg and -saw the remarkable interview between the young Goethe and the poet -Herder. Finally the stork, the true sign of German "Gemütlichkeit"; -the one in Basel was honored by the visit of Victor Hugo: "Je me suis -logé à la Cigogne, et de la fenêtre où je vous écris, je vois dans une -petite place deux jolies fontaines côte à côte, l'une du quinzième -siècle, l'autre du seizième." - -To the Philistine the strange animals of foreign distant lands had a -greater attraction still. In every modern "zoo" you will always find a -larger public before the monkey house than before the cage of the lion -or even the elephant, whose dignity and wisdom find fewer admirers -than does the foolishness of the apes. Early in the Middle Ages we -find this most curious of strange animals on the tavern signs. -"L'Ostel des Singes," sometimes called "The Green Monkeys," in -Senlis, France, is first mentioned in the year 1359. Our "Affenwagen" -is a Swiss sign, artfully carved in wood, and dates from the -Renaissance times, as does the inn "Zum Rohraff" in Strassburg, often -referred to in the sermons of Geiler von Kaisersberg. - -When the first dromedary made its appearance in Germany, a circular -containing a primitive woodcut invited old and young to see "the -curious animal called Romdarius." Fifty miles it could run in one day -in the sand sea--i.e., desert--the text said, and in summer it could -live three months without drinking "ohne sauffen." This last-mentioned -quality seemed to predestine the animal to a temperance sign, but -fortunately the description added, "when it drinks it drinks much at -one time," and so the tavern-keepers did not hesitate to adopt it as a -tavern sign. As an example we might quote the inn "Zum Kameeltier" in -Strassburg. Somewhat later, in the first half of the seventeenth -century, "The Crocodile" appears over the tavern door in Antwerp, and -this reminds us of the stuffed animals in the pharmacy described by -Shakespeare in "Romeo and Juliet":-- - - "And in his needy shop a tortoise hung, - An alligator stuff'd, and other skins - Of ill-shap'd fishes." - -The zebra seems to have been known quite early if we are allowed to -take "The Striped Donkey" as such. In the inn "L'Ane rayé" at Rheims, -the father of Joan of Arc is reported to have lodged when he came to -see the coronation in 1429. One of the last comers of the curious and -rare animals was the giraffe; it appeared in Paris for the first time -in 1827, and was immediately adopted as a tavern sign by a host in -Étampes, near the capital. The "enseigne" represented "le dit animal -conduit par un Bédouin." - -But the most curious animals of creation did not suffice. The -imagination of the people created others still more strange and the -landlords put these fabulous beasts on their signs too: the unicorn, -the dragon, the siren. "The Siren" tavern in Lyons at the time of the -Renaissance was evidently a very attractive place which the traveler -found very hard to leave again, because, as a contemporary tells us, -"il s'y trouve des Sirènes." In later days, when the popular stories -were forgotten, the sirens were changed to "Six Reines," the six -queens. In another chapter we shall see how Keats in his poem, The -Mermaid, has celebrated one of these old Siren taverns. - -How deeply rooted in the old days was this belief in "Mörwonder" or -ill-shaped fishes and malformations of the human figure will appear at -a glance in Schedel's "Welt Chronik" printed by Koberger in Nuremberg -in 1493, where we see them in strange woodcuts before us: the man -with ears hanging to the ground and other misshaped creatures. - -The same source of popular imagination created "Le Géant," the sign -"Zu den Slaraffen" in Strassburg, 1435, and the sign of "The Little -and the Great Sleeper" that during three centuries, from 1400 to 1705, -invited the citizens of the Alsatian capital to cross its hospitable -threshold. A charming picture, "The Sleeping Giant of the Woods" by -Lukas Kranach, in Dresden's famous Gallery, will help us to imagine -how the big sleeper probably looked. Is it the famous "Wild Man" or -"Le Grand Hercule" who sleeps here in the shadow of the forest? One -thing is sure, he has been drinking deeply and is dead asleep; nothing -can wake him up, not even this little army of dwarfs around him who -attack him with lances and arrows, nay, even try to saw into his -strong limbs. - -Since the days of the "Roman du Renard," the first version of which -dates back to the eleventh century, to the days of Goethe's "Reineke -Fuchs," shrewd master Fox was a favorite of the people. In old -miniatures we encounter him as a monk, his pointed nose buried in a -prayer-book. His exploits most naturally form good themes for the -tavern sign. Dancing before a hen to seduce the foolish creature by -his graceful charms, he was represented on an old French sign in Le -Mans: "Renard dansant devant une poule." Preaching to ducks, "Wo der -Fuchs den Enten predigt" is the name of a Strassburg tavern, which -dates only from 1848. His shrewdness before the royal tribunal of the -lion was well known; Montaigne, therefore, warns the tavern-keepers -who desire the patronage of advocates against painting him on the -signboard: "qui veut avoir la clientèle des procureurs ne doit point -mettre renard sur son enseigne." - -Other animals appealed more to the culinary instincts of the -passer-by, among them the swan, "l'oiseau de bon augure," which we do -not like to see turned into roasts. But in Chaucer's times it was -evidently considered a fine dish, since he lets the monk in his -"Canterbury Tales" say: "A fat swan loved he best of any rost." A -picture by David Teniers in The Hague, called "The Kitchen," shows how -the bird was served in his natural glory, a crown of flowers on his -proud head. This custom to serve fowl in full plumage is proved by -Montaigne's description of a dinner in Rome: "On y servit force -volaille rôtie, revêtue de sa plume naturelle comme vifve ... oiseaus -vifs (enplumés) en paste." - -To this group belongs the peacock, in the old days the official roast -for marriage feasts. Its picture on the signboard promised large -accommodations for people who wanted to celebrate marriages in true -style. "Le Paon blanc" in Paris, Rue de la Mortelleric, now a rather -shady region, was once a noble inn. Shortly after his marriage, -Rembrandt painted the famous picture in Dresden, where he represents -himself, a glass of champagne in hand, happily holding his beloved -Saskia on his knees. The richly decorated table in the background -still carries the peacock of the marriage feast. Of "The Pheasant" in -Worms, before the days of gas and electricity, Victor Hugo has given -us this amusing picture: "J'étais installé dans l'auberge du Faisan, -qui, je dois le dire, avait le meilleur aspect du monde. Je mangeais -un excellent souper dans une salle meublée d'une longue table et de -deux hommes occupés à deux pipes. Malheureusement la salle à manger -était peu éclairée, ce qui m'attrista. En y entrant on n'aperçevait -qu'une chandelle dans un nuage. Les deux hommes dégageaient plus de -fumée que dix héros." - -Sometimes a living bird served originally as a sign. The parrot of the -pharmacy, "Au Perroquet Vert," in Lyons, was a real bird, which had -learned even some Latin phrases, as "ora pro nobis," from the passing -processions, and naturally attracted many people by its wisdom. He -belonged to the living signs to which Balzac refers in "Les scènes de -la vie privée": "Les animaux en cage dont l'adresse émerveillait les -passants." Sometimes the cage itself was adopted as a tavern sign and -in Lyons a street was named "Rue de la Cage" for a public-house of -this name. A charming little French rhyme from the beginning of the -seventeenth century introduces us to such a cage-tavern:-- - - "Mademoiselle Louizon - Demeurant cher Alizon - Justement au cinquième étage - Près du cabaret de la Cage." - -Not only bird-cages and their musical or scholarly inhabitants, but -any remarkable object that happened to stand before the tavern was -readily interpreted by the people as a sign. In the little English -town of Grantham, where we had already the opportunity of admiring the -noble "Angel Inn," we saw in a tree before a modest tavern a beehive -with this inscription on a board beneath it:-- - - "Stop, traveller, this wondrous sign explore, - And say when thou hast viewed it o'er and o'er, - Grantham now two rarities are thine, - A lofty steeple and a living sign." - -To tell the truth, the lofty tower of St. Wulfram seemed to us the -only remarkable "rarity" of the two, the more so as the church was -beautifully decorated for Thanksgiving Day with flowers and the fruits -of the field, not to mention its unique little library with the -chained old books. - -We may infer the great popularity of signs by the ceremonious way in -which they were changed when a guild removed to other quarters. The -sign was carried in solemn procession to the new inn and hung up with -blasts of trumpets. The Swabian poet Mörike has tried to express the -melancholy emotions of the old landlord when he sees the sign changed -and finds it hard to recognize his old inn:-- - - "Where is the golden lamb of yore - So dear to my old guests? - I see a cock with reddish breast - Pecked it away from the door." - -An English author even tells us about the burial of a sign, which, he -says, was not an unusual affair in Cumberland. We give the story in -his own words: "It is a function always observed when an inn in the -neighborhood of Lady Carlisle's estate at Naworth has lost its -license. The inn sign is solemnly removed, and in the dead of night is -committed to the grave, in the presence of the old customers of the -inn. As a rule it is 'watered' with tears in the shape of a bottle of -whiskey, and the burial sentence runs as follows:-- - - "'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, - If Lady Carlisle won't have you - The Devil must.'" - -But we shall not end our chapter with this story of rather doubtful -taste. If we review the wealth of popular signs, which we have in no -way exhausted, we may well say that everything on earth may be adopted -by the people as a sign, from the cradle in which we dream our first -dreams to the cross that some day will stand over our "last inn" as a -pious and scholarly man has called our grave. In the beautiful -churchyard that enfolds in its greenery England's oldest existing -church, St. Martin in Canterbury, we read on the tombstone of Dean -Alford the simple words: "Deversorium Viatoris Hierosolymam -Proficiscentis," last inn of a pilgrim to the heavenly Jerusalem. - -[Illustration: ·EAGLE·AND·CHILD·IN·LONDON·] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -TRAVELING WITH SHAKESPEARE AND MONTAIGNE - -[Illustration: Krone Leonberg, Württemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -TRAVELING WITH SHAKESPEARE AND MONTAIGNE - - "Let us to the Tiger all to dinner!" - - _Comedy of Errors._ - - -Little William, already in the days when he went "with his satchel and -shining morning face creeping like a snail unwillingly to school," had -ample leisure and opportunity to gaze admiringly at the many signs -which adorned the narrow streets of the quiet little town on the Avon. -The memory of them still lives in some of the Stratford hotels. The -landlady of the "Golden Lion," for instance, remarks on her bill: -"Known as Ye Peacocke Inn in Shakespeare's time 1613." Even the "Red -Horse," to-day extremely modern and uninteresting-looking, goes back -to these old days. In Washington Irving's time the place probably -looked more quaint and cozy, if we may believe his praise of the old -inn in his "Sketch-Book": "To a homeless man, there is a momentary -feeling of something like independence and territorial consequence, -when, after a weary day's travel, he kicks off his boots, thrusts his -feet into slippers, and stretches himself before an inn fire." - -This picture gallery of the street signs was still more magnificent in -London, where even the theaters had their signs out, as "The Globe," -"Red Bull," "A Curtain," "A Fortune," "Cross Keys," "The Phenix," "The -Rose," "The Cockpit," and we may be sure that they made quite an -impression on the lively mind of the young actor. The word "sign" -occurs frequently in his vocabulary. Inclined to see below the -surface, he does not seem to trust the glittering of the sign, as the -words of Iago indicate:-- - - "I must show out a flag and sign of love, - Which is indeed but sign." - -The signs of his birthplace were probably rather poor-looking things, -since he uses the word in his early drama, "Titus Andronicus," -contemptuously:-- - - "Ye sanguine, shallow-hearted boys! - Ye white-lim'd walls! ye ale-house painted signs!" - -The sign of the "Falcon" was not yet hung out on the old house of -Scholar's Lane and Chapel Street in those years of 1571 to 1578, when -little Shakespeare went to the Grammar School, in which the traveler -to this day may see the chair of the pedagogue who first introduced -him to the secrets of literature. But the circle of life led him back -to the same narrow street, and opposite the stately building, which -now is the "Falcon," Shakespeare died. The mortuary house has -disappeared and the ground has been transformed into a garden. Here we -are infinitely nearer to the poet's soul than in the tiny -birth-chamber disfigured by a huge bust, where the guide drowns all -our thoughts in a flood of empty words. Here in this garden the -genius of the poet seemed to reveal himself most charmingly. Where -once the house stood in which he died we found a little child -peacefully sleeping--all alone, unguarded, but the gentle rose of -youth blooming on his cheeks--under the perfumed shadow of flowers; a -symbol of eternal life conquering death. - -[Illustration: THE·FALCON IN·CHESTER] - -If we enter the "Falcon," Shakespeare's words greet us from the wall: -"Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used, exclaim no -more against it." The gentle invitation of the blinking sign to enter -and to share joy and sorrow with friendly comrades, Shakespeare -himself has often followed. A French critic, Mézières, went so far as -to call him "un habitué de la taverne," politely adding that "he never -lost his self-control and never contended himself with the light joys -of the flying hour." - -The "Red Lion" in Henley-on-the-Thames once owned a window -pane--recently by mistake packed in the trunk of a confused -traveler--into which Shenstone scratched the much-quoted words:-- - - "Whoe'er has traveled life's dull round, - Where'er his stages may have been, - May sigh to think he still has found - The warmest welcome at an inn." - -They are of true Shakespearean spirit and remind us of Speed's words -in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona" (II, v):-- - - "I'll to the alehouse with you presently, where, for one shot of - five pence, thou shalt have five thousand welcomes." - -It would seem hardly necessary further to urge such an enthusiastic -lover of the tavern, but Launce thought differently. - - _Launce._ If thou wilt go with me to the alehouse, so; if not, - thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a - Christian. - - _Speed._ Why? - - _Launce._ Because thou hast not so much charity in thee as to - go to the ale with a Christian. - -We are not surprised to hear the final question, "Wilt thou go?" -promptly answered, "At thy service." - -Most of the tavern names Shakespeare mentions are true products of the -Renaissance times when classical studies were extremely popular. "The -Centaur," "The Phenix," "The Pomegranate,"--an ornament we find so -often in the brocades of the sixteenth century,--all are signs of his -own time, simply transplanted from London he knew so well to Genoa or -Ephesus, places he had never put his eye on. "The Pegasus," by the man -in the street called "The Flying Horse," decorated still in the year -1691 the house of a jeweler and banker in Lombard Street. In passing, -we may remark that all the signs which to-day surprise the traveler in -this busy street are more or less happy reproductions of the old -signs, hung out there by the great banking firms for King Edward's -coronation. - -In our wanderings through England we occasionally cross the path -Shakespeare went with his company of actors. The court in the "George -Inn" in Salisbury, to-day transformed into a pleasant little garden, -was once the scene where the "Strolling Players" of the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries used to give their performances, and here -Shakespeare himself acted when he visited Salisbury. A police -ordinance allowed only in the "George" theatrical amusements, and -demanded that all plays should be ended by seven o'clock in the -evening. This George Hotel was first mentioned in 1401 as -"Georgysyn." Oliver Cromwell slept here October 17, 1645, on his way -to the army. The old beams which carry the ceiling of the parlor, and -which a shrewd landlord has discovered in other rooms and freed from -the hiding plaster, are the delight of American travelers, who refuse -to sleep in rooms without beams. In the days of Pepys it was an -elegant hostelry. In his "Diary," in which he praises Salisbury as "a -very brave place," he puts down the following remarks: "Come to the -George Inn where lay in a silk bed, and very good diet." Less pleased -he was with the bill, which he thought "so exorbitant that I was mad -and resolved to truble the mistress about it and get something for the -poor; and came away in that humour." The result of his protest was not -great. After paying £2 5_s._ 6_d._ for the night he gains just two -shillings for the poor (one for "an old woman in the street"). Similar -privileges for theatrical performances had the "Red Lion" in Boston, -the little English mother of her big American daughter, and the -"Mayde's Hede" in Norwich. The closed space of these old innyards, -with its staircases leading to the surrounding gallery, was -thoroughly fitted for the theatrical representations, and it is quite -possible that this gallery of the innyard influenced the architecture -of the later theaters. Few of these innyards have survived, -unfortunately, but we have still a wonderful example in the charming -court of the so-called "New Inn" in Gloucester. It was new in the -fifteenth century. How enchanting a Shakespeare play would be in the -frame of its verdure! - -In the First Part of "Henry IV," the poet himself has introduced us -into such an innyard. It is very early morning and everything still -dark. Carters come to look after their goods and to harness their -horses, exchanging remarks in plain language: "I think this be the -most villanous house in all London road for fleas"; or, "God's body! -the turkeys in my pannier are quite starved. What, ostler! A plague on -thee! hast thou never an eye in thy head?"--a master scene of -realistic observation in the style Lessing and Goethe admired so much, -and Voltaire hated so that he proclaimed: "Shakespeare was a -remarkable genius, but he had no taste, since for two hundred years he -has spoiled the taste of the English nation." - -How important the spacious enclosure of the innyard was for the -farmers coming to town with their loaded wagons is shown by the fact -that still to-day many a hotel in Germany is simply called "Hof" -(court) or "Gasthof"; as, for example: "Koelner Hof," "Rheinischer -Hof," "Habsburger Hof," even "Kaiserhof," sumptuous modern structures, -perhaps, which have only a narrow lighting shaft in the center of the -building and nothing of the large and airy courtyards of the good old -times. - -Many of the tavern names Shakespeare mentions in his plays we know -from other sources as signs that actually decorated the streets of -London. "Leopard" and "Tiger" were infrequent, but we hear of a -"Leopard Tavern" in Chancery Lane, which still existed in 1665. The -popular pronunciation was "lubber," and in this form we find the beast -quoted in "Henry IV" (Part II, II, i), where it is said of Falstaff: -"He is indited to dinner to the Lubber's-head in Lumbert street, to -Master Smooth's the silk-man." Such curious distortions of strange -words are nothing uncommon in popular language; we have only to -remember how the old Yankee farmers used to call the panther by the -gentle name "painter." Another of Falstaff's favorite resorts was "The -Half-Moon," likewise mentioned in "Henry IV" (Part I, II, iv), where -he used to consume countless "pints of bastard" and of dark Spanish -wine. "The Tiger" referred to in the "Comedy of Errors" (III, i) was, -too, an actual sign of the times, as we hear of a "Golden Tiger" in -Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. On the other hand, the name of the -"Porcupine," which occurs in the same play, is probably invented as a -characteristic sign for a place of ill-fame. - -The most renowned of all the Falstaff inns is doubtless "The Garter," -his real home, so vividly described in the "Merry Wives of Windsor": -"There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-bed and -truckle-bed; 'tis painted about with the story of the Prodigal, fresh -and new." These few words give us an exact picture how a sleeping-room -in an inn looked in his time. The truckle-bed, it seems, was put under -the standing bed and was used by the servant, if we interpret rightly -the old rhyme on a "servile tutor":-- - - "He lieth in the truckle-bed, - While his young master lieth o'er his head." - -Even the wall paintings, as Shakespeare describes them, are not -invention. In the sixteenth century people loved to paint the story of -the lost son on the walls of the tavern room, just as in the fifteenth -century they pinned up little primitive woodcuts representing St. -Christopher. Later we shall see a painter of talent like Hogarth not -despise the decoration of taverns as below his genius and embellish -with works of his brush the "Elephant Tavern" in Fenchurch Street, -where he stayed for a time. - -The name "Garter Inn," pronounced "de Jarterre" by Doctor Caius, is -historical, too. Later, in the times of Charles I, who added the star -to the insignia of the order founded by Edward III in 1350, the "Star -and Garter" appeared. - -A true Renaissance sign we find again in the "Sagittary," cursorily -mentioned in "Othello" (I, i). The archer, the ninth sign of the -Zodiac, was very familiar to the people from the old calendar -woodcuts. Italian prints, as the beautifully illustrated "Fasciculus -medicinæ" (Venice, 1500), represent him in classical fashion as an -elegant centaur, very unlike the little philistine with round belly, -such as he appears in the earlier "teutsch kalender" of Ulm, 1498. The -common people did not call him "Sagittarius," but "bowman" (Schütze). -There is good historical evidence of a "Bowman Tavern" in Drury Lane, -London. It is natural that Shakespeare, a true son of the Renaissance, -should call him with the classical name, just as the first German -composer of operas changed his good German name "Schütze" to the more -pretentious form of "Sagittarius." - -In these "Bowman Taverns" the guilds of the archers used to come -together; as, for instance, in the "Hotel de l'Arquebuse" in Geneva, -where the Swiss archers had their joyous reunions after they had -finished their outdoor sport to shoot the "papegex" (the parrot). Here -the king of the archers who had done the master shot "sans reproche" -and "sans tricherie" (without cheating), was celebrated in poetical -speeches, according to the customs of the times:-- - - "Je boy à vous, à votre amye, - Et à toute la compaignie!" - -[Illustration: ·THE·OLD·BLUE·BOAR·IN·LINCOLN·] - -The most famous of all Shakespearean tavern signs is perhaps the -"Boar's Head." Washington Irving has told us in his research, "the -boar's head tavern, Eastcheap" about his investigations on this -important matter. "I sought, in vain, for the ancient abode of Dame -Quickly. The only relic of it is a boar's head, carved in relief in -stone, which formerly served as a sign; but at present [Irving's -'Sketch-Book' dates from 1820] is built into the parting line of two -houses, which stand on the site of the renowned tavern." To-day the -relief, blackened by age and curiously looking like Japanese -lacquer-work, belongs to the treasures of the Guildhall Museum in -London. The place where the old tavern stood is marked by the statue -of William IV, opposite the Monument Station of the subway. Merry -souvenirs of good old England are suggested by the boar's head, which -used to be served on Christmas Day decorated with rosemary and greeted -from the company with the half-Latin song:-- - - "Caput apri defero - Reddens laudes Domino, - The boar's head in hand bring I, - With garlands gay and rosemary; - I pray you all synge merrily, - Qui estis in convivio." - -It will be a great disappointment to our readers when we have to -confess that the unlucky fellows called literary critics have found -out that the stage-direction, "Eastcheap. A room in the Boar's Head -Tavern," is not Shakespeare's own remark, since we do not find it in -the early editions of "Henry IV." Still more so when they hear that -the relief in Guildhall bears the date 1668 and has been chiseled, -therefore, fifty-two years after the poet's death. A little -consolation we find in the not improbable supposition that it is a -copy in stone from the original wooden sign. Did not the famous fire, -which raged from Pudding Lane to Pye Corner in the year 1666, destroy -nearly all the Shakespearean London, with its old-fashioned frame -houses? For greater security the new buildings were erected in stone -and the old house emblems and carved tavern signs reappeared, too, in -more substantial form. The Guildhall Museum furnishes quite a number -of examples: "The Anchor" of 1669, "The Bell" of 1668, "The Spread -Eagle" of 1669, and others. - -And now let us follow Heinrich Heine on his voyage to Italy and hear -from him how in his days the noble palace of the Capulets, Julia's -paternal home in Verona, was debased to a common tavern. Near the -Piazza dell Erbe "stands a house which the people identify with the -old palace of the Capulets on account of a cap (in Italian 'cappello') -sculptured above the inner archway. It is now a dirty bar for carters -and coachmen; a red iron hat, full of holes, hangs out as a tavern -sign." To-day this disgraceful sign has disappeared and a marble slab -consecrates the popular myth as historical fact. This was then the -house where Romeo for the first time saw his lady love:-- - - _Romeo._ What lady's that which doth enrich the hand - Of yonder knight? - - _Servant._ I know not, sir. - - _Romeo._ O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! - Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night - Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear; - Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! - -Shakespeare's geographical knowledge seems to have been very limited. -If he could have gone, as the citizen of Stratford to-day, to the -Carnegie library, how many shocking errors he had avoided! Here he -could have learned that Bohemia has no seacoast, that Florence is not -a port, and that the forest of Arden neither hides lions nor contains -palms. But would this knowledge have increased his poetical feeling -and his power of representation? Hardly. The northern land with its -"sniping winds," how well it is characterized; how simple and true to -life his description of the mild climate of Sicily, crowned with -temples, in the "Winter's Tale" (III, i):-- - - "The climate's delicate, the air most sweet, - Fertile the isle; temple much surpassing - The common praise it bears." - -It was not yet the fashion to flee the winter and try to find eternal -spring in the South. Every season is welcome to the poet who loves the -peculiar charm of each one, as he says in "Love's Labor's Lost" -(I, i):-- - - "At Christmas I no more desire a rose - Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled shows, - But like of each thing that in season grows." - -He probably never traveled far, but how intensely does he feel the -curious sensations of all travelers, the weariness and yet the -eagerness to see the new sights! How perfectly modern sound in the -"Comedy of Errors" (I, i) the words:-- - - "Go bear it to the Centaur, where we host, - And stay there, Dromio, till I come to thee. - Within this hour it will be dinner time, - Till that, I'll view the manners of the town, - Peruse the traders, gaze upon the buildings - And then return and sleep within mine inn, - For with long travel I am stiff and weary." - -He possessed, like Schiller, who never saw Switzerland, and yet wrote -"Tell," the wonderful gift of filling the lack of distinct knowledge -with the poetical power of imagination, or, as he calls it himself, -"to make imaginary puissance" and "to piece out our imperfections with -our thought." - -No doubt certain things, details of local civilization, cannot be -imagined. One has to go and study them. We will therefore, to gain a -fuller understanding of the hospitality of the sixteenth century, -follow a contemporary of Shakespeare in his travels, Montaigne, a -clear-sighted observer, who as _grand seigneur_ had the good fortune -to make extended voyages in France, Southern Germany, and Italy. -Although himself rather a spoiled gentleman, he generally is full of -praise for the comforts and elegance of the inns, especially in the -south of Germany. Only once he had to complain about the "liberté et -fierté Almanesque," and this happened at Constance in the "Eagle." The -elegance of the Renaissance hostelries was indeed surprising and has -hardly been surpassed in our days of luxurious traveling. Not only -most of the beds were covered with silk, as in the "Crown" at Chalons, -for instance,--"la pluspart des lits et couvertes sont de soie,"--but -sometimes the table silver was richly and artistically decorated, as -in the "Bear" at Kempten (Bavaria): "On nous y servit de grands tasses -d'arjant de plus de sortes (qui n'out usage que d'ornemant, fort -labourées et semées d'armoiries de divers Seigneurs), qu'il ne s'en -tient en guière de bones maisons." In many places still the wooden -plates and cups were used, sometimes covered with silver; tin plates, -which appear at the end of the fifteenth century, seem to impress -Montaigne as a novelty. He notes at least expressly that in the "Rose" -at Innsbruck he was served in "assiettes d'étain." In the same very -good "logis" he admired the beautiful laces which decorated the -bed-linen--the pride of the German Hausfrau to the present day. The -sheets had, he said, "quatre doigt de riche ouvrage de passement -blanc, comme en la pluspart des autres villes d'Allemaigne." Other -things, on the contrary, which one finds to-day in the most modest -lodging-house--as, a stairway carpet--seem to him very strange and a -great novelty, although he used to stop only in first-class houses. -The inn "Zur Linde" in Augsburg--"a l'enseigne d'un arbre nomé 'linde' -au pais"--possessed this novel luxury, and Montaigne describes it in -this detailed manner: "Le premier apprêt étrange et qui montre leur -properté, ce fut de trouver à notre arrivée le degrés de la vis -(spiral stairway) de notre logis tout couvert de linges, pardessus -lesquels il nous falloit marcher, pour ne salir les marches de leur -vis qu'on venait de laver." - -The linden tree was very popular in Germany as a tavern sign; under -the shadow and in the sweet perfume of the village Linde, old and -young loved to gather to dance and sing. How cozy the inn room looked -at times we may see from his description of the "Crown" in Lindau. A -great bird cage "à loger grand nombre d'oiseaus" was connected with -the woodwork of the comfortable bench that used to surround the big -stove. A look at Dürer's engraving, "The Dream," will help our -phantasy to see and feel more clearly the "Gemütlichkeit" of such a -stove-corner. Leaning back in soft cushions, a philistine in -dressing-gown is peacefully dozing, while a beautiful young woman -standing at his side seems to reveal a part of his dream. - -The most luxurious hotel Montaigne ever stopped at was one in Rome, -nobly called "Au Vase d'Or." "As in the palace of kings," the -furniture was covered with silk and golden brocades. But he did not -feel at home in his royal room, constantly fearing to injure the -costly things, and to get a great bill against him for damages. So he -decided to move to more modest quarters, not without dictating to his -secretary: "M. de Montaigne estima que cette magnificence estoit -non-sulement inutile, mais encore pénible pour la conservation de ces -meubles, chaque lict estant du pris de quatre ou cinq çans escus." -Most of the Italian inns of his time stood in curious contrast to this -royal sumptuosity. Often the windows were mere holes in the walls, -simply closed with wooden shutters, which darkened the room -completely if one needed to be protected against sun, wind, or rain. -Such was the case of the "Crown" in Siena: "Nous lojames à la -Couronne, assés bien, mais toujours sans vitres et sans chassis. Ces -fenêtres grandes et toute ouvertes, sauf un grand contrevent de bois, -qui vous chasse le jour, si vous en voulez chasser le soleil ou le -vent; ce qu'il trouvoit bien plus insupportable et irremédiable que la -faute des rideaux d'Allemaigne." This lack of curtains in German -hostelries was still, two hundred and fifty years later, for Victor -Hugo a reason to complain about the "indigence des rideaux." A real -miserable time Monsieur de Montaigne had in Florence in the -"hostellerie de l'ange," where certain little creatures drive him out -of bed and force him to sleep on the table: "J'etois forcé la nuit de -dormir sur la table de la salle ou je faisais mettre des matelas et -des draps ... pour éviter les punaises dont tous les lits sont fort -infectés." A similar experience he has in San Lorenzo, near Viterbo, -the charming little town of countless fountains. - -But we must take leave of our noble traveling companion and visit the -painters' studios of the time to see if we cannot find in their work -pictures of the taverns and signs we have heard so much about. - -[Illustration: ·THE·ROWING·BARGE·WALLINGFORD·] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -TAVERN SIGNS IN ART--ESPECIALLY IN PICTURES BY THE DUTCH MASTERS - -[Illustration: The Trumpeter before a Tavern From a Painting by Du -Jardin in Amsterdam] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -TAVERN SIGNS IN ART--ESPECIALLY IN PICTURES BY THE DUTCH MASTERS - - "Als de vien es in der man - dan is de wiesheid in de kan." - - -Carlyle once complained that the artists preferred to paint -"Corregiosities," creations of their own fancy, instead of -representing the historic events of their own times. Only the Dutch -painters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in so far as -they keep clear of the Italian influence, may justly be called true -historical painters, certainly with greater reason than the school of -historical painting in the nineteenth century, which tried to -reconstruct events of epochs long past with the antiquarian help of -old armor, swords, costumes, and the like. We will find, therefore, in -the works of the Dutch masters the truest historical documents for our -modest sphere of investigation. - -While Greek art reflected, as in a pure mirror, the harmony of worldly -and religious life in Hellas, the mediæval art essentially served -religious ideas, but in giving them a visible form used the worldly -elements of contemporary costume and architecture. Great artists like -Giotto, whose merits the proud words on his tombstone characterize, -"Ille ego sum per quem pinctura extincta revixit," proved themselves -the best historians, because they possessed, besides deep religious -concentration, the gift of true observation, thus introducing in their -works valuable information about the life of their own time. - -Not until the dawn of the Renaissance had freed the worldly spirit -from ecclesiastical shackles did men imbued with a deep-rooted love of -their country, like the Venetian Vittore Carpaccio, or the Florentine -Benozzo Gozzoli, give us true pictures of home life. Out of the solemn -walls of churches and cloisters they lead us into the animated and -picturesque life of the streets, which were not, as some authors try -to make us believe, above all the scene of wild and unbridled -passions, but which we might compare with arteries filled with the red -and healthy blood of social life. In his frescoes from the life of St. -Augustine in San Gimignano, Benozzo shows us how parents present -their little boy to the "magistro grammatice" in the street in front -of the open schoolroom. Little Augustine, crossing his arms over his -breast in an attitude of deference, looks rather inquisitively at his -future master, while in the parents' faces we read the earnest hope -that the son will make "ultra modum" great progress, and never deserve -such shameful public punishment as we see administered to the little -good-for-nothing on the right side of the picture. But we do not -observe a schoolmaster sign hung out, such as have come down to us -from the German sixteenth century. The Italian painter still delights, -above all, in the architectural beauty of his native city. In the same -way Carpaccio shows us the piazzas and canals of his beloved Venice in -the splendor of processions, solemn receptions of foreign ambassadors, -and the like, decorated with flags and Oriental carpets. The humble -inn of the people does not yet attract the eye of the artist, who -delights in the elegance of palaces and the grandeur of public -buildings. - -The early artists of the Netherlands, too, represent the street, not -filled with the noisy, everyday life of the people, but as a quiet -stage, on which the holy procession of saints solemnly move, as in -Memling's picture of St. Ursula's arrival in Rome. In quiet, elegant -rooms the noble donors kneel before the holy virgin, saints unite in a -"santa conversazione," far from the world. Here and there only a -window looks out on a tiny landscape, with rivers and bridges, roads, -and fortified towns on distant hills, beyond which our "Wanderlust" -draws us. This little section of nature slowly grows larger, the -narrow limitations of architecture fall; crowned only with the -glorious light of heaven, Mary sits in the open green fields, which -give good pasture to the tired donkey. Thus Jan van Scorel has painted -the holy family in a charming picture of the collection Rath in Pest. -Out of pious seclusion the way leads into free nature, to meadows and -brooks, to clattering mills, and finally, for a rest after the long -walk, to the peasant's inn. - -Even earlier, before the Dutch painters, a pupil of Dürer, Hans Sebald -Beham, one of the "godless painters of Nuremberg," who were exiled -from their native town on account of socialistic tendencies, has taken -us along this road. In one of his larger engravings he pictures the -different stages of a rustic wedding, and for the first time shows us -the signboard, hanging on a long stick, from a dormer window of the -tavern. We might date the painted sign from the invention of oil -painting on wooden panels by the brothers Van Eyck, an art which was -introduced in Italy through Antonello da Messina as late as 1473. The -signs of earlier date we have to imagine as either sculptures, closely -united with the architecture of the house, or as mural paintings such -as we still see to-day in Stein-on-the-Rhine, for instance, on the -house "Zum Ochsen." - -Master Dürer himself once hung out the little tablet with his famous -monogram as a tavern sign over the fantastic ruin, in which he places -the birth of Christ in his beautiful engraving of the year 1504, proud -to have prepared such a cozy inn for Our Lady and her God-given Child. - -But the whole wealth of signs, from the natural simple form of the -speaking sign to the most elaborate examples of signs painted or -artfully wrought in iron, reveals itself to us later in the realistic -pictures of the Dutch painters. - -The earliest representation of a speaking sign, where the merchandise -itself is still hung out, I have seen in a woodcut illustrating a book -printed in Augsburg in 1536: "Hie hebt an das Concilium zu Constanz." - -It is a baker's sign: large "brezels" on a wooden stick, a primitive -precursor of the artful baker's sign we observe in Jan Steen's -charming picture "The baker Arent Oostwaard" in the Rijks Museum at -Amsterdam. In more modern times the real merchandise is sometimes -supplanted by an imitation of the different loafs in wood and neatly -painted in natural colors, such as we see in an amusing sign from -Borgo San Dalmazzo, a picturesque mountain town near Cuneo in northern -Italy. - -A similar evolution may be noted in other trade signs: first the real -boots, and later a copy in wood, painted red if possible; first the -big pitcher and the shining tin tankard decorated with fresh foliage, -later the imitation in a wreath of iron leaves. Everywhere in the -tavern and kermess scenes painted by Dutch masters, we see real -pitchers and tankards hanging over the doors as speaking signs -inviting the peasants to enter and partake of a refreshing drink. In -northern Germany the "Krug" (pitcher) was so popular as a sign that -the landlord was called after it, "Krüger," to this day a widely -spread family name. - -[Illustration: Panetteria Borgo San Dalmazzo·] - -Unfortunately the Dutch artists loved the interior of the tavern still -better than its façade, otherwise we should find still more of the old -signs in their pictures. Jan Steen, a genius in the art of living as -well as in the art of painting, was a brewer's son and occasionally he -played the landlord himself, in 1654, in the tavern "Zur Schlange," -and in 1656 "In der Roskam," both in Delft. In his latter days, when -he had returned to his birthplace, Leyden, where he once was enrolled -as a student of the university, he obtained a license from the city -fathers "de neringh van openbare herbergh." Who could deny æsthetic -influence to tavern rooms bedecked with genuine Steens? Other artists -like Brouwer paid their tavern debts in pictures, and thus created an -artistic atmosphere in which young artists like Steen himself felt -most naturally at ease. - -In a picture in Brussels, "The Assembly of the Rhetoricians," the -president of a debating society reads the prize poem to the peasantry -assembled outside a tavern, the speaking sign of which, pitcher and -tankard, is hanging out on a large oaken branch. More frequent than -this bush is the wreath--known to us already as a sign in -antiquity--surrounding the jolly pitcher as we see it in Du Jardin's -sunny picture "The Trumpeter before a Tavern," in Amsterdam. - -David Teniers gives the preference to the half moon and rarely omits -to place a pitcher above the signboard. Sometimes he decorates his -moon tavern with the escutcheon of Austria and the imperial eagle; for -instance, in a picture in Vienna. In his great painting in the Louvre -we see a mail-stage-driver's horn, a kind of hunting-horn, although -the master, who died in 1690, did not live to see the mail-coach -introduced. - -[Illustration: The Half-Moon from a painting by Teniers in London] - -In the representations, then so popular, of corporations assembled at -festive meals, we sometimes remark in the background, through an open -window, the stately guild-houses crowned with their signs; the little -lamb with the flag, for instance, in Bartholomæus van der Helst's -superb banquet of the city guard in the Rijks Museum at Amsterdam. But -perhaps no other artist has given us a more vivid impression of the -beauty of the street with its various glittering signs than the -brothers Berkheyden in the picture of which we reproduce a section in -our Frontispiece. The street itself has been the painter's real -object, the play of light and shade on its various architectural -features fascinates him more than the people passing through it, who -once acted the principal rôle and are now treated as mere accessories -valuable for accenting the perspective of the picture. Gerrit -Berkheyden has painted the same market-place of Harlem again in his -sunny picture of 1674 in the London National Gallery, but this time -the street, gayly decorated with signs, is more distant and lost in -shadow. - -Fifty years later Hogarth gave us a picture of London streets and -their fantastic signs, but not in the Dutch spirit of naïve -truthfulness. There is hardly an engraving among his numerous -productions representing a street scene, without a tavern sign. All -forms are represented, the detached signpost characteristic of -England, such as the "Adam and Eve" sign on the large engraving "The -March to Finchley," or the sign of "The Sun" hung out on a bracket in -his engraving of "The Day," dated 1738; again, a painted board, -fastened against the wall, as we see it over the door of the Bell -Tavern, in one of his earliest prints dated 1731 in the cycle "A -Harlot's Progress." In the same plate we notice over another tavern -door a large chessboard, familiar to us from the old Roman taverns. -Usually this cubistic pattern decorates the signpost standing in front -of the alehouse, as seen in our design of the sign-painter from the -engraving "The Day." Hogarth's sarcastic mind was inclined anyway to -distort life's pictures like a comic mirror, and it will be difficult -to determine how much further he has caricatured the actual signs he -saw in the streets of London which, themselves, were very often the -creations of a cartoonist. Most of his signs seem true copies from -life; others, like the barber sign in the engraving "The Night," or -the above-mentioned "Good Eating," I am inclined to think -exaggerations or fanciful inventions, although, to be sure, the carved -frame around the gruesome pitcher of St. John the Baptist's head shows -a distinct historic style, somewhat plainer and of more recent date -than the richly carved Renaissance frame of the Adam and Eve -signboard. - -While to Hogarth the sign seemed to be an excellent medium wherewith -to increase the bitterness of his satire, the German romantic artists -of the nineteenth century, Moritz von Schwind and Spitzweg, loved to -introduce it in their pictures as a fairy element. The golden pattern -of a star sign is woven into the soft lines of their compositions: -"The Farewell," by Spitzweg, and the famous "Wedding Journey," by -Schwind, in the Schack Gallery at Munich. A friendly star is twinkling -over both the lovers who part with tears, and those who are starting -upon their journey in the dewy morning of life. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -ARTISTS AS SIGN-PAINTERS - -[Illustration: A Sign-Painter from an Engraving by Hogarth] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -ARTISTS AS SIGN-PAINTERS - - "Ou il n'y a pas d'église je regarde les enseignes." - - VICTOR HUGO. - - -Good old Diderot, who to-day sits so peacefully in his armchair of -bronze on the Boulevard Saint-Germain and observes with philosophical -calm the restless stream of Parisian life passing him by day and -night, was once a severe critic. We might call him the father of -critics, since he reviewed the first French Art Exhibition arranged in -the Salon carré of the Louvre. From this salon the modern French -Expositions in Paris derive their name, although they have grown into -bewildering labyrinths of art and have long ago lost the intimacy and -elegance inherent in a salon. When Diderot intended to hurt the -feelings of an exhibiting artist, he used to call him a "peintre -d'enseigne," and he was cruel enough to use this term rather -frequently with those painters "qui ne se servent de la brosse que -pour salir la toile." In the famous encyclopædia which, together with -d'Alembert, he edited in 1779, and which brought them the honorary -title of "Encyclopédistes," he gives two definitions of the French -word for sign, "enseigne": first, a flag; and second, condescendingly, -"petit tableau pendu à une boutique." As we see, the great critic did -not appreciate sign-painters and their works very highly; and in this -respect he only shared the general opinion of the public, which liked -to poke fun at these "artistes en plein vent." - -Charlet, who usually celebrates in his lithographs the soldiers of the -great Napoleon, is the author of an amusing cartoon on our poor -sign-painters. "J'aime la couleur" is the title of the spirituel -design which leaves us in doubt which color the sign-artist really -prefers--the red on his large palette or the red of the wine in the -glass he is holding. - -In similar vein Hogarth represents him as a poor devil in rags and as -a conceited fellow evidently very proud of his mediocre work. Like his -French colleague he loves a drink in this cold, windy business of his; -at least the round bottle hanging on the frame of the signboard -contains to our mind, not varnish, but something in the Scotch -whiskey line. - -To the "Musée de la rue" his immortal works were dedicated, said a -malicious Frenchman; but after all, was this really so degrading at a -time when excellent artists did not hesitate to exhibit their work in -the open street? Monsieur Georges Cain, the director of the Carnavalet -Museum, who knows all the "Coins de Paris" so well and with whom it is -so entertaining to promenade "à travers Paris," tells us that in the -days before the Revolution the young artists who were not yet members -of the official academies used to show their paintings on the Place -Dauphine, once situated behind the Palais de Justice. If Jupiter -Pluvius did not interfere, the exhibition was arranged on the day of -the "petite Fête-Dieu." Great linen sheets were pinned over the -shop-windows and formed the background for paintings of such eminent -artists as Oudry, Boucher, Nattier, or Chardin, works of art which -to-day are considered treasures of the Louvre, as "La Raie," exhibited -by Chardin for the first time in 1728 in this museum of the street. -"Quel joli spectacle," says Cain in his "Coins de Paris," "devaient -offrir la place Dauphine, les façades roses des deux maisons -d'angle et le vieux Pont-Neuf--décor exquis, pittoresque et -charmeur--encombrés d'amateurs, de badauds, de critiques, de belles -dames, d'artistes, d'aimables modèles en claire toilette, se pressant -affairés, babillards, enthousiastes, joyeux, par une douce matinée de -mai, devant les toiles fraîches écloses des Petits Exposants de la -Place Dauphine!" - -Our respect for the "artistes en plein vent" can but increase, when we -hear that three famous painters have begun their career with the -composition of a sign: Holbein, Prud'hon, and Chardin. All kinds of -tavern anecdotes are in circulation regarding Holbein, who was rather -a gay bird in his youth. According to one of them he once got so tired -of painting the decoration of a tavern room that he concluded to -deceive the landlord, watching eagerly his work, by counterfeiting -himself standing on a scaffold before the wall busily engaged in his -work. Thus he was able to skip out and have a good time in another -tavern, while the good landlord, every time he looked through the -door, was pleased to see him ever diligently working. One of -Holbein's earliest works was a sign for a pedagogue representing a -schoolroom; this is still preserved in the Museum at Basle. - -Who would have thought that Prud'hon--the artist who dwelled in -romantic dreams, and whose wonderful creation of Psyche, borne away by -loving wind-gods, lives on, a pleasant fancy in our minds--had begun -his artistic career by painting a sign for a hatter in his native -town? This, we suppose, was the first and last time that he painted -such an unpoetical thing as a hat. Like Holbein he was just fourteen -years old at the time when he produced this picture, which likewise -has come down to us; at least it still existed when the École des -Beaux-Arts in Paris arranged a Prud'hon Exhibition in 1874. - -The third great artist who gained his first success by means of a sign -was Chardin. A friend of his father, a surgeon, who did not disdain to -play the barber as a side issue had given him the order. It was not -unusual for doctors to hang out a pretty sign; if they were poetically -inclined, they ventured a little rhyme on it, as shown by this Dutch -example:-- - - "Den Chirurgijn - Vermindert de pijn - Door Gods Genade." - -For this respect the barber and hair-dressing artists showed no less -talent, as this French verse will sufficiently prove:-- - - "La Nature donne barbe et cheveux - Et moi, je les coupe tous les deux." - -Well, our "chirurgien-barbier" followed the general custom of his time -and ordered a sign. Naturally he expected Chardin to paint on it all -his knives, his trepan, and other instruments of torture, and was not -a little surprised to find something very different. The proportions -of the signboard, which was very long, twelve feet long by three feet -high, had suggested to the young artist an animated composition which -he styled "les suites d'un duel dans la rue" and for which all the -members of his family had been obliged to pose as models. Only one -part of the picture, where the wounded was carried to a surgeon's -office, referred to the business of his father's friend. Fearing, -therefore, a possible objection on his part, the artist took the -precaution to fasten the sign in the night to the doctor's house, who -was awakened in the morning by a big crowd assembled before it, -evidently admiring the chef d'Oeuvre. Unfortunately this early work -of Chardin's no longer exists. His paintings, so much more serious and -solid than the frivolities of Boucher and Lancret, the idols of the -public of his time, have only recently, in our democratic times, -received fully the appreciation they deserve. - -But the most famous of signs painted by a great artist is without -doubt the one which Watteau, in 1720, shortly before his death, made -for the art dealer Gersaint, in three days, "to limber up his stiff -old fingers." It is one of the most beautiful things Watteau ever -produced and is now in the possession of the German Kaiser. French -critics, however, think that it was executed by a pupil, from the -original sketch of the master, which has been found and which shows -more "loose qualities," to use an artist's term. However that may be, -the picture that Frederic the Great purchased through his art agent in -Paris is a beauty. A good friend of Watteau's, a Monsieur de Julienne, -the first possessor of the sign, and owner of another painted by -Watteau for Gersaint's art shop, entitled "Vertumnus and Pomona," was -very proud of this new possession, as we might judge from the fact -that he asked the engraver Aveline to engrave it with this -inscription:-- - - "Watteau, dans cette enseigne à la fleur de ses ans - Des Maîstres de son art imite la manière; - Leurs caractères différens, - Leurs touches et leur goût composent la matière - De ces esquisses élégans." - -These words refer to a picture gallery in Gersaint's shop which -Watteau carefully reproduces in the sign, but which to our modern eyes -is less fascinating than the elegant customers, ladies and gentlemen, -and the amusing eagerness and enthusiasm of these aristocratic -connoisseurs. - -Another sign by Watteau, the loss of which we have to deplore, was the -property of a "marchande de modes." No doubt it tempted many a -"Parisienne" to buy rather more of the charming Watteau costumes than -were strictly necessary. - -A modern French artist who sometimes has been honored with the name -"Watteau Montmartrois," the illustrator Willette, has produced in our -days the sign for the famous cabaret, the "Chat Noir" prototype of -all cabarets in France and elsewhere. Two other signs by his -master-hand, "À l'image de Notre Dame" and "À Bonaparte," may still be -seen in Paris on the Quai Voltaire and on the corner of the Rue -Bonaparte and the Rue de l'Abbaie. - -Other great French artists have painted signs occasionally: Greuze did -the "Enseigne du Huron" for a tobacco merchant--which may remind us of -the wooden Indian, guarding similar American shops in the old days; -Carle Vernet and his son Horace Vernet; Géricault, the great -sportsman, whose career as an artist was cut short by a violent fall -from a horse, is the author of the "Cheval blanc," which once adorned -a tavern in the neighborhood of Paris; Gavarni, the great -lithographer, painted a sign, "Aux deux Pierrots," and drew it later -on stone; Carolus Duran's "enseigne brossée vigoureusement sur une -plaque légèrement courbée" was first exhibited in the Salon de la -Société Nationale before it was placed over the door of a -fencing-school; and many others. - -Among the French sculptors Jean Goujon, perhaps the greatest of them, -the creator of the Fontaine des Innocents in Paris and its charmingly -graceful figures, is mentioned as the author of a sign, "La chaste -Suzanne," which once embellished a house in the Rue aux Fêves. To-day -a plaster cast has been substituted for the original, bought by an art -collector. In the old streets of Paris we may still discover here and -there sculptured signs of artistic charm, such as "La Fontaine de -Jouvence" in the Rue de Four Saint-Germain, 67, and the fine relief of -the "Soleil d'or" in the Rue Saint-Sauveur. The little Bacchus riding -so gayly on a cask, who once decorated the "Cabaret du Lapin blanc," -spends to-day a rather dull existence, together with other retired -colleagues of his, in the Musée Carnavalet. Our little "Rémouleur," -from the Rue des Nonains d'Hyères, who does not fail to amply moisten -his grindstone, is not only a suggestive symbol, but in his dainty -rococo dress a very amusing piece of sculpture. - -We cannot end our chat on signs by French artists without mentioning -the name of Victor Hugo, to whom we owe so much information about the -wealth of signs that still existed at his time in France and the -countries bordering on the Rhine. He was himself a clever draughtsman -and occasionally sketched "des dessins aux enseignes enchevêtrées," -reminiscences of the real signs he used to admire on his wanderings. -The following quotation may show how great was his love for signs: "À -Rhinfelden, les exubérantes enseignes d'auberge m'ont occupé comme -des cathédrales; et j'ai l'esprit fait ainsi, qu' à de certains -moments un étang de village, clair comme un miroir d'acier, entouré de -chaumières et traversé par une flotille de canards me régale autant -que le lac de Genève." - -[Illustration: Enseigne du Rémouleur·Paris] - -Among the great Dutch masters Paulus Potter, Albert Cuyp, and -Wouwerman are cited as occasional sign-painters. Even Potter's famous -"Jonge Stier" in The Hague is claimed as a butcher's sign. It would -perhaps seem like doing too much honor to the art of sign-painting if -we numbered this remarkable work of the twenty-two-year-old artist -among them. And what beautiful white horses, bathed in mellow -sunlight, Cuyp may have painted for the "Rössle" taverns! Another -Dutch artist, Laurens van der Vinne (1629-1702), is even called the -Raphael among sign-painters. We do not know much about his work, but I -am afraid he did not take this title as a compliment. - -To find Rembrandt's great name in connection with our art seems -stranger still, but there is a tradition that copies of his -pictures--we may think of his good Samaritan arriving with the wounded -man before an inn--were used as signs. As we shall see later, his own -portrait was occasionally hung out by a patriotic and art-loving -landlord over the tavern door. - -Among English artists Hogarth, whom we already know as a keen observer -of London signs, deserves the first place. He is supposed to be the -author of a sign, not very gallant to the fair sex, called "A man -loaded with mischief." It represents a wife-ridden man. All kinds of -delicate allusions hidden in the background of the composition seem to -hint at the sad fact that this impudent woman on his back holding a -glass of gin gets sometimes "drunk as a sow." I doubt if Hogarth -engraved this plate himself; it is signed "Sorrow" as the engraver and -"Experience" as the designer. It would do little honor either to -Hogarth the man or the artist. - -All satirical art has this great deficiency, that it is hard for the -public to judge whether the satire means to combat seriously the vices -and errors of men or whether the smile of the satirist is not a smile -of complacency. But such doubts must not detain us from visiting with -good humor an exhibition of signs, the spiritual promoter of which -Hogarth seems to have been. At any rate, he contributed quite a few of -his own works under the transparent pseudonym "Hagarty." - -Bonnell Thornton, who, after a brilliant journalistic career as editor -of "The Connoisseur," "The St. James's Chronicle," and other -publications, received the greatest honor accorded to Englishmen, a -final abode in Westminster Abbey, was the originator of this curious -exhibition. Hogarth was at least on the "hanging committee." The fact -that the gates of the Signboard Exhibition were opened in the spring -of 1762, at the same time as the official Exhibition of the Society -for the Encouragement of Arts, provoked the anger of the "Brother -Artists" and was the signal for a perfect storm among the newspapers. -Furious articles stigmatized the enterprise as "the most impudent and -pickpocket Abuse that I ever knew offered to the Publick." "The best -entertainment it can afford is that of standing in the street, and -observing with how much shame in their Faces People come out of the -House. Pity it will be, if all who are employed in the carrying on -this Cheat, are not seized and sent to serve the King." In those days, -"to serve the King" was evidently a severe punishment. The -sign-painters in their turn hurried to protest their innocence and to -refute "the most malicious suggestion that their Exhibition is -designed as a Ridicule on the Exhibition of the Society for the -Encouragement of Arts. They are not in the least prompted by any mean -Jealousie to depreciate the Merits of their Brother Artists, ... their -sole View is to convince Foreigners, as well as their own blinded -Countrymen, that however inferior this Nation may be unjustly deemed -in other Branches of the Polite Arts, the Palm of Sign-Painting must -be universally ceded to Us, the Dutch themselves not excepted." The -committee even reprinted the articles and letters abusive of the -Exhibition, "thanking the critics for so successfully advertising -their efforts." - -No doubt, this exposition was a rare treat. Not only were all the -painted signs "worse executed than any that are to be seen in the -meanest streets, and the carved Figures," as one of the curious who -visited the show tells us, "the very worst of Signpost Work, but -several Tobacco Rolls, Sugar Loaves, Hats, Wigs, Stockings and Gloves, -and even a Westphalian Ham hung round the room." "The Cream of the -whole Jest," or, as the French would say, the "clou de l'exposition," -were two boards behind blue curtains with the warning inscription: -"Ladies and gentlemen are requested not to finger them, as blue -curtains are hung over in purpose to preserve them." Since it was the -custom in those days to hide pictures of too indelicate a nature in -this fashion, the ladies, of course, did not dare to gratify their -curiosity. But lascivious gentlemen who did not hesitate to lift the -curtains found only the mocking words: "Ha! Ha! Ha!" and "He! He! He!" - -The amusing catalogue of this extraordinary Exhibition has been -published in full in the Appendix of Larwood and Hotten's "History of -Signboards." It mentions many of our old acquaintances like "The -Salutation, or French and English manners"; others are new to us, as -"The Barking Dogs," "a landscape at moonlight, the moon somewhat -eclipsed by an accident." The peruke-maker's sign, "Absalom hanging," -is again an old friend of ours. But the rhyme underneath-- - - "If Absalom had not worn his own hair - Absalom had not been hanging there"-- - -seems to us not quite equal in poetical value to the following we read -somewhere else:-- - - "Oh Absalom! oh Absalom! - Oh Absalom! my son, - If thou hadst worn a periwig - Thou hadst not been undone." - -Some of Hagarty's contributions have moralizing titles--as, "The -Spirit of Contradiction," representing two brewers with a barrel of -beer, pulling different ways--which do not amuse us any more to-day. -"The Logger-Heads," or, "We are Three" (add: fools), is an old sign to -which Shakespeare alludes in his "Twelfth Night" (II, iii), where the -Fool comes between Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and, -taking each by the hand, says: "How now, my Hearts, did you never see -the picture of We Three?" In country taverns sometimes two asses were -painted on the wall, with the inscription: "We three asses." The -newcomer used to spell these words with great seriousness, to the -delight of the old customers. Another sign by Hagarty, "Death and the -Doctor," evidently goes back to the popular scenes of the "Dance of -Death" and reminds us of other gruesome signs, the above-mentioned -French signs, "La Mort qui trompe," "La Fête de Mort" in Lyon and "La -Cave des Morts" in Geneva. This physician's sign probably resembled -the rude woodcuts of the first printed editions of the "Dance of -Death" from the fifteenth century: the doctor very unwilling to follow -his colleague, "the sure Physician," as Shakespeare has called Death. -Some such picture was in the poet's mind when he wrote the words in -"Cymbeline," V, v:-- - - "By medicine life may be prolong'd, yet death - Will seize the doctor too." - -This exhibition of Signboards inspired by Hogarth was the first and -most amusing of its kind. More than one hundred years later an -"Exposition Nationale des Enseignes parlantes artistiques" was -arranged in Brussels with one hundred and forty-one different signs, -and in 1902 the Prefet de la Seine organized in the City Hall of Paris -a great "Concours d'Enseignes." Both represent serious and idealistic -efforts to improve the artistic side of trade-signs, and by this means -to ennoble the picture of the street so often disfigured by vulgar -advertisements. Well-known artists, as the sculptors Dervé and -Moreau-Vauthier, the painters Willette, Bellery-Desfontaines, Félix -Régamey, and the popular collaborator of "Le Rire," Albert Guilleaume, -contributed to this exhibition and thus stimulated their colleagues to -work for the Museum of the Street. Henri Détaille, the famous painter -of battle scenes and pupil of Meissonier, was the spiritual author of -the competition. In a letter to Grand-Carteret, the writer of a great, -luxurious publication on the signs of Lyon, he had expressed the hope -to educate and refine the artistic instinct of the masses through this -medium of noble signs: "L'enseigne amusera la foule: rien n'empêche -même qu'elle soit instructive tout en restant une très pure oeuvre -d'art." He ends his letter with the following lines that give credit -to his good heart and his sympathy for the common people: "Que les -enseignes les plus belles les plus artistiques aillent surtout dans -les quartiers pauvres, populeux et privés, de toute manifestation -d'art." If we reflect that indeed the posters often are the only -touches of brightness in the gray monotony of the poor quarters, we -will heartily join Détaille in the wish that these posters might be -pure and noble creations of art. Certain German posters, lithographed -by such artists as Cissarz, seem to approach this ideal. The recent -German War-Poster, "Gedenket Eurer Dichter und Denker," may find an -honorable mention in this connection. - -In England the advice Détaille gave to the artists "à reprendre la -tradition" has never been entirely forgotten, and even to the present -day well-known artists have not disdained to paint signs occasionally. -But before we enter the amiable society of contemporary artists we -will show due honor to the great master Grinling Gibbons, who, so to -speak, is an honorary member of the Sign-Makers' Guild. To no visitor -of London is the name of this sculptor unfamiliar. His master-hand -carved the choir stalls in St. Paul's Cathedral and many elaborate -wood-sculptures in royal castles. One of his works is the famous -golden cock in "Ye Olde Cock Tavern" in Fleet Street. When the old -house was torn down to make room for a branch office of the Bank of -England, the noble bird was obliged to move across the street, where -he now occupies the seat of honor in a large and rather dull room. I -am sure he would prefer to roost in the little paneled room, up -another flight, where Tennyson wrote the poem that made the creature -immortal. - -[Illustration: ·THE·GOAT·IN·KENSINGTON·] - -Among the living English artists who painted signs we may mention -Nicholson and Pryde, both experts in the art of the poster. Our -illustration "The Goat," which hangs out on High Street, No. 3, in -London, is attributed to them, but even the greatest admirer of -Nicholson's woodcuts will not find it worth while to pay a visit to -this unattractive ale-house. There is more charm in "The Rowing -Barge," a signed work of G. D. Leslie, member of the Royal Academy, in -Wallingford on the Thames, where we found it in the neighborhood of -the old Norman Church of St. Leonhard. - -It took even two Academicians, Leslie and L. E. Hodgson, to produce -the "George and Dragon" sign in Wargrave, a fascinating little place -buried amidst the greenery of giant trees. The damp climate has -effaced and darkened the sign considerably; the owner of the inn has -therefore taken it in and placed it on the garden side of the house, -under the protection of a balcony. Wargrave has a few other remarkable -signs, such as the one of the "Bull Inn," which seems to be inspired -by the beautiful picture of young Potter. - -But not the least beautiful among signs are the works of unknown -artists. All the admirable signs in forged iron, from the eighteenth -century and the beginning of the nineteenth, in southern Germany, -belong to this group. Benno Rüttenauer, to whom we are indebted in -many ways, has praised these pure works of art in an article on -"Swabian Tavern Signs": "They are a joy to the eye and caress it as -the melody of a folk-song caresses the ear." From what invisible -sources springs their beauty? we ask, just as we do before the great, -miraculous flowers of Gothic cathedrals rising mysteriously from the -plain cornfields of northern France. Simple artisans were their -inventors and creators, men who dared to let their own ideas grow in -the free play of glowing, flexible iron, not yet disturbed by -pattern-books and school wisdom. - -More beautiful still than these are the eternal signs with which -Mother Nature, the only real teacher of all true artists, invites the -weary pilgrim to rest: the moon, the gentle shining stars, and the -blossoming trees under whose perfumed branches we sleep so sweetly. -This is the oldest inn; the Germans call it "Bei Mutter Grün," and the -French speak similarly of "loger à l'enseigne de la lune"; "coucher à -l'enseigne de la belle étoile." Nobody has sung the charms of this -natural inn more sweetly than the Swabian poet Uhland in his song, -"Bei einem Wirte wundermild," which we beg permission to quote in W. -W. Skeat's happy translation:-- - - "A kind and gentle host was he - With whom I stayed but now; - His sign a golden apple was - That dangled from a bough. - - "Yea! 't was a goodly apple-tree - With whom I late did rest; - With pleasant food and juices fresh - My parching mouth he blest. - - "There entered in his house so green - Full many a light-winged guest; - They gaily frisked and feasted well - And blithely sang their best. - - "I found a couch for sweet repose - Of yielding verdure made; - The host himself, he o'er me spread - His cool and grateful shade. - - "Then asked I what I had to pay, - Whereat his head he shook; - O blest be he for evermore - From root to topmost nook!" - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE SIGN IN POETRY - -[Illustration: Zum Goldnen Hirsch Leonberg, Württemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE SIGN IN POETRY - - "Er ging nicht in den Krug, - Er wohnte gar darinnen." - - JOACHIM RACHEL. - - -Like a prophetic star the sign seems to stand over the birth-house of -many a poet. Or shall we not agree with Chateaubriand who saw in the -eagle on the house in Bread Street, London, where Milton was born, an -"augure et symbole"? And is it not a curious coincidence that the -greatest French comedy-writer was born "à l'enseigne du Pavillon des -Cinges dans la Rue des Étuves Saint-Honoré" in Paris? One of the most -ingenious reconstructions of Robida (the architect of Vieux Paris, -never to be forgotten by any visitor of the Parisian World's Fair of -1900) was this birthplace of Molière's that took its name from the -mighty corner-beam, covered with carved monkeys. Truly, Milton had -hoped less from the eagle on his father's house than from the gentle -star of Venus under which he was born. In his family Bible, one of -the many autograph treasures of the British Museum, he has registered -his birth with his own hand: "John Milton was born the 9th of -December, 1608, die Veneris, half an hour after 6 in the morning." It -availed him little to be born on the day of Venus, and the promise -given to the "children of Venus" by an old German calendar of 1489, -"They shall sing joyfully and free from care," was not fulfilled in -his life. His marriage was an unhappy one. Taine said of him: "Ni les -circonstances ni la nature l'avaient fait pour le bonheur." But the -eagle on the house of his childhood proved to be a true symbol of his -great future, for like an eagle he soared to the highest heights of -poetical creation. Schiller was born in Marbach in the neighboring -house to the "Golden Lion," whose landlord his grandfather had been. - -Considering that all houses in earlier times were distinguished by -such symbols, even the most pious could not help being born under a -sign. Calvin, the French Puritan, was even born in an inn, the "grasse -hôtellerie des Quatre Nations" at Noyen in Picardy. On the other hand, -merry souls seem to have preferred saints as patrons of their -birthplace, for Gavarni, the ingenious cartoonist, came into the world -at Paris "à l'enseigne de Sainte Opportune, Rue des Vieilles -Haudriettes." - -Sometimes Fate seems to mock the highflying ambitions of a great poet, -by changing the house of his birth into a common public-house, as -happened in the case of Chateaubriand, "the gentilhomme né" and his -birthplace in the Rue des Juifs at Saint-Malo. On the other hand, -Rabelais's birthplace in Chinon, which became a tavern after his -death, should have been one from the first hour of his life; for his -was like the "étrange nativité" of his hero Gargantua: "Soubdain qu'il -fut né, ne cria comme les aultres enfans: 'Mies, mies'; mais à haulte -voix s'escrioit: 'À boire, à boire, à boire!' comme invitant tout le -monde à boire." A little poem tells us the story how his study was -transformed into a wine-cellar for merry revelers:-- - - "Là chacun dit sa chansonette - Là le plus sage est le plus fou - - * * * * * - - La cave s'y trouve placée - Où fut jadis le cabinet, - On n'y porte plus sa pensée - Qu'aux douceurs d'un vin frais et net." - -The oldest poetical tradition of tavern signs we find, perhaps, in the -songs of Villon, who sometimes has been called the Paul Verlaine of -the fifteenth century, on account of his similar vicissitudes in life. -A child of the people, he is not ashamed of his low origin:-- - - "Sur les tumbeaux de mes ancestres - Les âmes desquels Dieu embrasse, - On n'y voyt couronnes ne sceptres." - -Living the life of the common people, he mingles freely with them, and -in his wordly poems many a tavern adventure is told with zest. As a -roaming scholar he wanders from place to place and, having rarely a -penny in his purse, he acquires easily the art of dining without -paying:-- - - "C'est bien trompé, qui rien ne paye, - Et qui peut vivre d'advantaige, - Sans débourser or ne monnoye - En usant de joyeux langaige." - -And although he arrives at the tavern door riding shank's mare, poor -devil that he is,-- - - "Il va à pied, par faulte d'asne,"-- - -he is rich in fascinating stories to win the landlord's favors and to -secure ample credit. Full of self-assurance, he demands always the -best of everything, "boire ypocras à jour et à nuyctée" (day and night -to sip Hypokras), one of Falstaff's various favorite drinks. - -Curious sign-names Villon mentions; as, the tin plate,-- - - "le cas advint an Plat d'estain,"-- - -or, the golden mortar ("le mortier d'or"), and even "the pestle." The -mortar was really a chemist's sign. To-day, even, we may see, in a -little French provincial town over the door of a druggist, a bear -diligently braying some wholesome herb, in a mortar, an "Ours qui -pile." - - "Or advint, environ midy, - Qu'il estoit de faim estourdy; - S'en vint à une hostellerie - Rue de la Mortellerie, - Où pend l'enseigne du Pestel - À bon logis et bon hostel; - Demandant s'en a que repaistre. - Ouy vraiment, ce dist le maistre, - Ne soyez de rien en soucy - Car vous serez très bien servy, - De pain, de vin et de viande." - -The animal kingdom is represented by the mule, "la Mulle," an inn -frequented by Rabelais, too, the red donkey ("un asne rouge"), and -the white horse that, like all the painted horses, had the bad habit -of never moving ("le cheval blanc qui ne bouge"). We have seen above -that the "White Horse" was popular in Italy, too, although an old -Italian proverb pretends that it is just as capricious as a beautiful -woman and a source of continual annoyances:-- - - "Chi hà cavallo bianco e belle moglie - Non è mai senza doglie." - -The most famous of all the cabarets immortalized by Villon is "le trou -de la Pomme de Pin," as he usually calls it. In the "Repues Franches," -from which we quoted the story of the Hotel du Pestel we read:-- - - "Et vint à la Pomme de Pin - - * * * * * - - Demandant s'ils avoient du bon vin, - Et qu'on luy emplist du plus fin - Mais qu'il fust blanc et amoureux." - -We see that our poet-tramp hated adulteraters of wine ("les taverniers -qui brouillent nostre vin") not less sincerely than his old Roman -colleague Horace. In his older days he regretted the dissipation of -his youth, sadly reflecting upon what a comfortable age he could have -now if ... - - "J'eusse maison et couche molle! - Mais quoy? je fuyoye l'escolle, - Comme faict le mauvays enfant.... - En escrivant cette parole - A peu que le cueur ne me fend." - -The tavern of the "Pomme de Pin" stood near the Madeleine Church--not -the famous one we all know, but an old building in the "cité," Rue de -la Lanterne, which was pulled down in the time of the Revolution. -Rabelais loved the place and praised this pineapple higher than the -golden apple that young Paris once gave to Venus, thus creating -endless troubles among men and gods:-- - - "La Pomme de Pin qui vaut mieux - Que celle d'or, dont fut troublée - Toute la divine assemblée." - -Sainte-Beuve has called this tavern, connected with so many proud -names in French literature, "la véritable taverne littéraire, le vrai -cabaret classique," a title which to-day is deserved by the "Cabaret -du Chat Noir," the creation of such gifted artists as Henri Rivière, -Willette, and, last but not least, Steinlen, the painter of its sign. - -Next in literary celebrity stands "La Croix de Lorraine," where -Molière used to relax from his strenuous life as poet and actor and -get merry over the blinking glass, "assez pour vers le soir être en -goguettes." Among the guests ponderous Boileau sometimes appeared, -although he seems to have taken his admonition in the "Art poétique," -"connaissez la ville," rather seriously and to have made quite -extensive studies of the Parisian public-houses. We find him in the -"Diable," who had his quarters in those days very near the Sainte -Chapelle, and in "La Tête Noire," a counterpart of "The Golden Head" -in Malines where Dürer lodged on his journey through the Netherlands. - -It would be amusing to count how many immortal works have been created -over a tavern table. Have we not heard that in our days Mascagni wrote -the incomparable overture to his "Cavalleria Rusticana" on the little -marble table of a modern café? Racine is supposed to have written his -"Plaideurs" on the tavern table of the "Mouton Blanc" in Paris, and -this happy circumstance seems to have affected his style very -agreeably and to have made the play easier for a modern reader than -the solemn dramas which are so difficult to enjoy if one does not -happen to be a Frenchman. How attractive a place this "Mouton Blanc" -was we might imagine from the little rhyme:-- - - "Ah! que n'ai-je pour sépulture - Les Deux Torches ou le Mouton!" - -What gifted fathers earned through tavern creations the prodigal sons -sometimes lost again in gambling. Louis Racine spent the little -fortune his father had left him in the "Epée de bois," the same place -where the comedy-writer Marivaux once gambled away his paternal -heritage, regaining it soon, to be sure, by new and charming -productions. It is mostly the stimulating company of comrades and -fellow-artists, the freedom from petty household cares, that draws the -poet to a quiet tavern corner; but sometimes, too, a charming landlady -is the attractive force which may become so irresistible as to bind -him forever in marriage bonds. Maybe, too, the tavern-bill was growing -so hopelessly big that the poor dreamer saw no other solution. This -was the reason why La Serre married the landlady of the "Trois ponts -d'or," it being understood that "contrat de mariage valait quittance -alors entre cabaretière et poète," as Michel-Fournier expresses the -matter. - -The tender relationship between the landlady and the poet-guest has -given birth to numerous songs, from which we select the famous German -Lied by Rudolf Baumbach: - - "Angethan hat mir's dein Wein - Deiner Äuglein heller Schein - Lindenwirtin, du junge!" - -and the not less charming poem of Molière's successor, Dancourt, -composed in honor of the landlady of the "Cabaret du petit père -noire":-- - - "Si tu veux sans suite et sans bruit - Noyer tous tes ennuis et boire à ta maîtresse, - Viens, je sais un réduit - Inaccessible à la tristesse - Là nous serons servis de la main d'une hôtesse - Plus belle que l'astre qui luit, - Et mêlant au bon vin quelque peu de tendresse, - Contents du jour, nous attendrons la nuit." - -The classical literary tavern of England was without doubt "The -Mermaid Tavern," once situated in Bread Street not far from Milton's -birthplace. Here the famous club, founded by Ben Jonson, in 1603, -assembled, among them the immortal Shakespeare. The fascination of -this mermaid was still in the nineteenth century so great as to -inspire Keats with his charming "Lines on the Mermaid Tavern," which -we feel inclined to quote in full from Anning Bell's illustrated -edition, where it stands under a graceful reconstruction of the -sign:-- - - "Souls of Poets dead and gone, - What Elysium have ye known, - Happy field or mossy cavern, - Choicer than the _Mermaid Tavern_? - Have ye tippled drink more fine - Than mine host's Canary wine? - Or are fruits of Paradise - Sweeter than those dainty pies - Of venison? O generous food! - Drest as though bold Robin Hood - Would, with his maid Marian, - Sup and browse from horn and can. - - "I have heard that on a day - Mine host's sign-board flew away - Nobody knew whither, till - An astrologer's old quill - To a sheepskin gave the story, - Said he saw you in your glory, - Underneath a new-old sign - Sipping beverage divine, - And pledging with contented smack - The Mermaid in the Zodiak. - - "Souls of Poets dead and gone, - What Elysium have ye known, - Happy fields or mossy cavern, - Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?" - -Truly a capricious wind has carried away the old Mermaid sign into far -and unknown regions, and to-day the scholars are disputing where -really the famous house stood. - -Two other taverns, less roughly handled by Father Time, may claim to -be next in literary rank: "The Cheshire Cheese" and "The Cock," both -in Fleet Street. "Ye olde Cheshire Cheese," or simply "The Cheese," is -not easy to find because it really stands on a narrow side-lane, the -Wine Office Court. It has the great advantage of having preserved -unchanged the character of a seventeenth-century tavern. Although -venerable, it is not the original building, which was destroyed, -together with many other public-houses in the great fire of 1666. -Pious souls saw in the fact that the conflagration started in Pudding -Lane and ended at Pie Corner an evident proof that the fire was sent -from Heaven as punishment for "the sin of gluttony." Shakespeare is -said to have turned in not unfrequently at the old house of the -"Cheshire Cheese" on his way to the Blackfriars' Theatre in the -Playhouse Yard, Ludgate Hill, where he was director for a time, or -coming back for a twilight drink after the performance, which in -those times closed as early as five o'clock. In spite of the warning -fire of 1666 the sin of gluttony is still readily committed in the -"Cheshire Cheese," whose specialty, a meat pudding,--containing not -only roast beef, kidneys, and oysters, but sky-larks too!--might even -be called a sin against the holy ghost of poetry. Once immersed in -this pudding the divine singers are silent forever without the -consolation of the children's book:-- - - "And when the pie was opened - The birds began to sing." - -Some of these lark puddings are even shipped to Yankeeland, which -sends every year countless pilgrims to the "Cheshire Cheese." If -possible, the American father of a family will take the seat of Dr. -Samuel Johnson, the famous lexicographer, lean his head against the -old paneling, which clearly shows the marks of the greasy wigs of the -Doctor and his friend Oliver Goldsmith, and look at chick and child -with an Olympian air, as if he wanted to say: "I am Sir Oracle, and -when I ope my mouth let no dog bark." - -Among the guests and visitors at this "house of antique ease" we find -many famous names beside Johnson and the author of the "Vicar of -Wakefield," who dwelt in the neighboring house, No. 6, Wine Office -Court; men like Swift, Addison, Sheridan, Pope, even Voltaire, who -must have felt rather out of place in this atmosphere of beefsteak and -ale. Among modern poets Thackeray and Dickens are foremost,--Dickens -who has studied so intimately the taverns and inns of his country. -Under the spell of these souls of poets dead and gone, writers of the -present generation love to gather here in literary clubs, such as the -Johnson Club, which has adopted as its device the Doctor's classical -definition of the word "club": "An assembly of good fellows meeting -under certain conditions." Johnson, who spent almost all his life in -taverns, favored not only "The Cheese" with his presence, but others, -too, as "The Mitre," in whose dark coffee-room Hawthorne once dined. -This old house has entirely vanished from the ground, just as the -still older inn "The Devil"--who, following his old custom of settling -near a church, had established himself opposite St. Dunstan's. Thus -we no longer "go to The Devil," but if we have some serious business -on hand we may step into "Child's Bank," which stands exactly on his -former spot. - -How important a rôle the waiters played in these old taverns we may -realize from the fact that the portraits of two former head waiters -decorate the walls of "The Cheshire Cheese." Tennyson has celebrated -another of these dignitaries in a long poem written in the Cock -Tavern, beginning in this classical fashion:-- - - "O plump head-waiter at The Cock, - To which I most resort, - How goes the time? 'T is five o'clock. - Go fetch a pint of port; - But let it not be such as that - You set before chance-comers, - But such whose father-grape grew fat - On Lusitanian summers." - -Dreaming over his glass of wine the poet sees in a sudden vision the -prototype of the cock who once brought the head-waiter as a round -country boy to the city, to the great bewilderment of his church-tower -colleagues who witnessed his audacious flight:-- - - "His brothers of the weather stood - Stock-still for sheer amazement." - -The description of this legendary cock, inspired evidently by the -beautiful work of Gibbon's master-hand, still to be seen in the modern -Cock Tavern in Fleet Street, might well be called classical, and shall -not be withheld from our readers:-- - - "The Cock was of a larger egg - Than modern poultry drop, - Stept forward on a firmer leg, - And cramm'd a plumper crop, - Upon an ampler dunghill trod, - Crow'd lustier late and early, - Sipt wine from silver, praising God, - And raked in golden barley." - -Everybody who knows and loves the Swabian poet Mörike, the music for -whose songs, composed by Hugo Wolff, have become the property of the -international brotherhood of music-lovers, will think of his "Old -Church-Tower Cock," strangely similar in feeling to Tennyson's poem of -"The Cock" and his brothers of the weather. - -We are not surprised to find that the poets of the land of Wanderlust -give special attention to taverns and signs. Besides Mörike, and -Uhland, whose "Inn" we quoted above, Johann Peter Hebel, a son of the -Black Forest, has always shown a special predilection for the sign and -its wonders. In an untranslatable poem, "On the death of a tippler," -he celebrates his man as a diligent astronomer who never tires looking -for shining "Stars," a brave knight always ready to hunt up "Bears" -and "Lions," a pious Christian willing to do penitence at the "Cross," -a man who frequented the best society, including "The Three Kings," -his most intimate friends. - -Germany may boast, too, of a classical literary tavern, the -"Bratwurstglöckle" in Nuremberg, built directly against the walls of a -church, the Gothic Moritz-Kapelle. Among its famous guests were the -Mastersinger, Hans Sachs, and Dürer, Germany's greatest artist. Like -a house out of a fairy tale it stands before us; we are only surprised -that no fence of sausages surrounds it and that its door and window -shutters are ordinary wood and not gingerbread! - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -POLITICAL SIGNS - -[Illustration: The King of Württemberg Stuttgart] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -POLITICAL SIGNS - - "Au-dessus de ma tête, Charles Quint, Joseph II ou Napoléon - pendus à une vieillie potence en fer et faisant enseigne, grands - empereurs qui ne sont plus bons qu'à achalander une auberge." - - VICTOR HUGO, _Le Rhin_. - - -At the first glance our peaceful sign seems to have nothing to do with -politics whatsoever, except perhaps in so far as under its symbol the -Philistines assemble, not only to drink and be merry, but, as a -side-issue, to solve the world's problems. The contrast of human -strife and battle outside, somewhere in distant lands, with the -undisturbed comfort of the tap-room has been for ages one of the chief -fascinations of the tavern, and none has described this selfish -attitude of the Philistine more graphically than Goethe in the -conversation of the two citizens in his "Faust":-- - - "On Sundays, holidays, there's naught I take delight in, - Like gossiping of war, and war's array. - When down in Turkey, far away, - The foreign people are a-fighting. - One at the window sits, with glass and friends, - And sees all sorts of ships go down the river gliding: - And blesses then, as home he wends - At night, our times of peace abiding." - -This opinion the other citizen, who reminds us curiously of certain -modern neutrals, approves with the following words:-- - - "Yes, Neighbor! that's my notion too: - Why, let them break their heads, let loose their passions, - And mix things madly through and through, - So, here, we keep our good old fashions!" - -This seems about all the political wisdom the tavern sign has to -suggest; but if we investigate more closely the varying forms and -continual changes of the sign we shall discover in its evolution -nothing less than a little history of civilization in pictures. Every -great event in the world's history finds its echo in some -transformation of the sign, that proves itself a sensitive indicator -for the popular valuation of leading men and important occurrences. In -the eagle-names of the Roman signs we seem to hear the conquering -wings of the Roman eagles soaring over the world, and on the Cymbrian -shield over the cocktavern on the Forum we read the pride of the -victorious Roman soldier. - -In our chapter on "Heraldic Signs" we recognized the relationship -between the landlords and the ruling powers. The swinging sign of a -"crown" means the rule of kings, and thankful subjects who enjoy the -peace secured by their monarch and the comfort of settling down in -"The Crown" to a blessed meal. It means good times, efficient -landlords and easy food-supply, if you get such an excellent and -abundant dinner as Heine was offered on his wanderings through the -Harz by the tavern-keeper of "The Crown" in Klausthal: "My repast -consisted of spring-green parsley-soup, violet-blue cabbage, a pile of -roast veal which resembled Chimborazo in miniature and a sort of -smoked herrings, called Bückings from their inventor William Bücking, -who died in 1447, and who, on account of the invention, was so greatly -honored by Charles V that the great monarch in 1556 made a journey -from Middleburg to Bievlied in Zealand for the express purpose of -visiting the grave of the great fishdrier. How exquisitely such dishes -taste when we are familiar with their historical associations!" - -[Illustration: Degerloch] - -And do not the kings themselves appear on the sign? The "Three Kings" -were originally the "Wise Men" from the East. How the Catholic Church -came to represent them as kings we read in Fischart's quaint old -German of his amusing "Bienenkorb" of 1580: "Und das sie weiter auss -den treien Weisen aus Morgenland trei König gemacht hat und den eynen -so Bechschwarz als eynen Moren, ist aus den Weissagungen Salomonis -oder Davids gefischet, die da sagen, dass die König aus Morenland -Christum anzubeten kommen werden." The East, the land of the morn, -was thus confused with the land of the Moors which we should rather -seek to the south of Bethlehem. On "Three Kings' Day," of course, the -taverns of this name were scenes of special merriment, the good -Catholics joyfully shouting, "The King drinks." "The three gentlemen," -as Carlyle calls them disrespectfully, are buried in the Cologne -Cathedral, but their memory is honored still by many a visitor of a -"Three Kings" tavern in good Rhenish wine which our forefathers called -the theological wine. We find the sign of the famous travelers from -distant lands especially on the great roads of commerce leading from -Italy over the Alps, so in Augsburg and Basle. Originally a royalist -symbol of the landlord's loyalty to monarchy, of his eagerness to -serve crowned guests if fortune should lead them his way, it was -changed in the times of the Revolution to the democratic "Three -Moors," and the first landlord who is said to have deprived his three -kings of their crowns was the landlord in Basle. Maybe time helped him -to make this change, slowly wearing away the gilded glitter of the -crowns and darkening the kings to black-a-moors. To-day the famous -house in Augsburg, where Charles V once lodged as guest of the rich -banker Fugger for more than a year, is called "Three Moors." The -traveler still may see the big fireplace in which the generous -merchant burned all the imperial promissory notes. - -But whatever the explanation of this "Three Moors'" sign may be, there -can be no doubt that the Revolution had a noticeable influence on -signs in general. The inn "Zum Rosenkrantz" in Strassburg was called -after 1790 "A la couronne civile," to please the rationalistic -worshipers of the "Supreme Being," and countless king-signs were sold -as old iron. Sébastien Mercier, in his "Tableau de Paris," has given a -merciless report of this great catastrophe which swept away so many of -the signs which we have learned to respect and to love: "Chez les -marchands de ferrailles du quai de la Mégisserie, sont des magazins de -vieilles enseignes, propre à décorer l'entrée de tous les cabarets et -tabagies des faubourgs et de la banlieu de Paris. Là tous les rois de -la terre dorment ensemble: Louis XVI et Georges III se baisent -fraternellement; le roi de Prusse couche avec l'impératrice de -Russie, l'empereur est de niveau avec les électeurs; là enfin la tiare -et le turban se confonde. Un cabaretier arrive, remue avec le pied -toutes ces têtes couronnées, les examine, prend au hasard la figure du -roi de Pologne, l'emporte et écrit dessous: Au grand vainqueur. Un -autre gargotier demande une impératrice; il veut que sa gorge soit -boursouflée, et le peintre, sortant de la taverne voisine, fait -présent d'une gorge rebondie à toutes les princesses d'Europe. Le même -peintre coiffe d'une couronne de laurier une tête de Louis XV lui ôte -sa perruque et sa bourse, et voilà, un César.--Toutes ces figures -royales ont d'étranges physionomies et font éternellement la moue à la -populace qui les regarde. Aucun de ces souverains ne sourit au peuple, -même en peinture; ils out tous l'air hagard ou burlesque, des yeux -éraillés, un nez de travers, une bouche énorme...." - -We see those were bad days for kings, even for painted ones. If the -landlord had Jacobin blood in his veins he would not content himself -with such harmless changes as removing the painted crowns. He would -call his tavern no longer "Le Roi Maure," but forthwith "Le Roi -Mort," and on the sign the picture of the dead king Louis XVI would -testify to his stanch republicanism. Or he would choose as sign-hero -Brutus the famous regicide. Dickens has introduced us to such a -tavern, "The good Republican Brutus," in the "Tale of Two Cities," and -his picture of the place, although in a book of fiction, shows clearly -the colors of historical truth: "It had a quieter look than any other -place of the same description they had passed, and though red with -patriotic caps was not so red as the rest." The guests were a rather -suspicious-looking crowd. One workman with bare breast and arms reads -aloud the latest terrible news to the rest who listen attentively. All -are armed, some have laid their weapons aside to be resumed, if -needed. In the classical chapter "The Wine-Shop," where he describes -the hopeless misery of the poor people crowded together in the narrow -streets of the St. Antoine quarter, he sees even in the merchants' -signs symbols of misery or threats of future atrocities: "The -trade-signs (and they were almost as many as the shops) were all grim -illustrations of Want. The butcher and the porkman painted up, only -the leanest scraps of meat, the baker the coarsest of meager loaves. -The people rudely pictured as drinking in the wine-shops croaked over -their scanty measures of thin wine and beer.... Nothing was -represented in a flourishing condition, save tools and weapons; but -the cutler's knives and axes were sharp and bright, the smith's -hammers were heavy, and the gunmaker's stock was murderous." - -It was in a tavern in Varennes that the fate of Louis XVI was sealed. -Here the fugitive king was arrested and forced to go back to Paris to -pay with his blood the debt of sins which his ancestors had -accumulated. "Forty-eight years after the royal coach was stopped in -this town," says Victor Hugo, "I saw hanging from an old iron bracket -the picture of Louis Philippe with the inscription: 'Au grand -Monarque.'" Nowhere do we observe quicker changes than in governments -and tavern signs, remarks the German tramp-poet Seume; and Victor Hugo -indulges in similar reflections, passing in review the signs of the -last one hundred years from Louis XV to Bonaparte and Charles X: -"Louis XVI s'est peut-être arrêté au Grand Monarque, et s'est vu là -peint en enseigne, roi en peinture lui-même.--Pauvre 'Grand -Monarque?'" he exclaims in pathetic pity. This supposition of Hugo's, -however, is not correct, as we learn from Carlyle, who, scrutinizing -with the prophetic vision of a poet the darkness of the past, -possessed at the same time the exactness and sincerity of a true -historian and who has given us, based on a personal visit to the -locality, the following description of the nocturnal scene: "The -village of Varennes lies dark and slumberous, a most unlevel Village -of inverse saddle-shape, as men write. It sleeps; the rushing of the -River Aire singing lullaby to it. Nevertheless from the Golden Arm, -Bras d'or Tavern across that sloping Marketplace, there still comes -shine of social light...." - -Even the American Revolution left its traces on the tavern signs of -the Yankeeland. The old Baptist pastor and Professor of Theology, -Galusha Anderson, who has given us, in his charming book, "When -Neighbors were Neighbors," in his simple way a kind of social history -of the early United States, mentions signs that he saw in his youth -"where the English red-coats were represented flying before our -revolutionary forefathers." And Washington Irving has given us, in his -"Rip Van Winkle," a classical example of the political changes the -signboard had to undergo. When this curious dreamer and unhappy -husband, after many years of mysterious absence, came back to his -native village, nothing perhaps surprised him so much as to find on -the old tavern the strange words, "The Union Hotel, by Jonathan -Doolittle," and to see even the good old sign strangely altered: "He -recognised on the sign, however, the ruby face of King George, under -which he had smoked so many a peaceful pipe; but even this was -singularly metamorphosed. The red coat was changed for one of blue and -buff, a sword was held instead of a sceptre, the head was decorated -with a cocked hat, and underneath was painted in large characters, -General Washington." Thus he received from the signboard the necessary -instruction on the great changes that had taken place during his -absence, how his country had developed from an English Colony to a -free Republic. - -There are still a few signs in existence that might give us an idea -how such old American signs probably looked. We refer especially to -the "Governor Hancock" sign in the old Boston State House and a couple -of amusing signs in the little historical museum at Lexington. - -In its long political career the sign was not spared the humiliation -of being used as gallows. One of the first victims of the French -Revolution was Foulon. He was charged with making the people eat -grass; and now a raging mob forced into his dead mouth the food he had -proposed for others. According to tradition this old sinner was -hanged to a lantern on the corner of the Place de la Grève and the Rue -de la Vannerie. But this is contradicted by such an old Parisian as -Victorien Sardou, who says that Foulon was hanged to a sign which, as -he remembers well from his childhood days, was still to be seen, under -Louis Philippe, although nobody really seemed to give attention to it -in those days of Romanticism. - -Another gruesome story we are told by Macaulay, how under James II, -after the defeat of the unhappy Duke of Monmouth, the partisans of the -pretender were suspended from a signpost before a tavern in Taunton by -order of a certain Colonel Percy Kirke. "They were not suffered even -to take leave of their nearest relations. The signpost of the White -Hart Inn served for a gallows. It is said that the work of death went -on in sight of the windows where the officers of the Tangier regiment -were carousing, and that at every health a wretch was turned off. When -the legs of the dying men quivered in the last agony, the colonel -ordered the drums to strike up. He would give the rebels, he said, -music to their dancing. The tradition runs that one of the captives -was not even allowed the indulgence of a speedy death. Twice he was -suspended from the signpost, and twice cut down. Twice he was asked if -he repented of his treason, and twice he replied that if the deed were -to do again, he would do it. Then he was tied up for the last time." - -The Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor Jeffreys, who continued the work -of persecution against the partisans of the Duke of Monmouth,--the man -whose Bloody Assizes will not be easily forgotten in England,--once -nearly paid with his life the foolish desire to climb up on a signpost -in a happy hour of complete intoxication. After a wild orgy in company -with the Lord Treasurer, he and his companion decided to undress until -they were "almost stark naked" and to drink the king's health from the -airy height of a signpost. Jeffreys took a severe cold and alarmed not -a little the king, who feared the irreparable loss of such a valuable -servant. - -After the uncanny stories of the signpost's function as a gallows, we -find a certain comfort in hearing that the sign occasionally offered a -refuge to persecuted political offenders. In the days of the -Corsican, the partisans of the Bourbons, called by the beautiful name -of "Chouans," were happy to find such a refuge, "une cache fameuse," -behind the big sign of the perfumer Caron. The persecuted Chouan had -only to step out through a window and to close the blinds behind him -and he was perfectly safe against the detectives of Fouché, the chief -of the police. If the fugitive, however, made a blunder and stepped by -mistake into the barber shop of M. Teissier, he was undone; because -this was the man who had the honor of shaving the Cæsarean face of -Napoleon. - -Before the French Revolution another great event in the world's -history had produced considerable changes on the signboard--the -Reformation. We have already noticed how the new ideas and motives of -the Renaissance influenced, not only the sculptured frame of the sign, -but created new forms, such as the Dolphin, the Siren, the Pegasus, -the Sagittary, Fortuna, Apollo, Phoenix, Minerva, Hercules, Castor -and Pollux, Bacchus, all favorite themes of this classical period. The -discovery of America at the same time brought the "Wild Man" into -great popularity, and the newly introduced tobacco, "the filthy weed," -caused the creation of countless Indian and Huron signs, -"black-a-moors and other dusky foreigners." - -The Reformation itself had a more negative effect on the sign. It -tried to eliminate or to change the old saint signs. Cromwell in -England declaimed against Catholic-sounding tavern names. "St. -Catherine and Wheel" was changed to "Cat and Wheel," and degenerated -further into "Cat and Fiddle," a sign still popular in England and -celebrated in the famous children's rhyme:-- - - "Heigh diddle diddle, - The cat and the fiddle." - -On some signs the fiddling cat inspires with its music a cow to jump -in ecstasy over a grinning moon. Thus we see everywhere the old -religious motives and symbols turned into ridicule and blasphemy. This -process began at the end of the Middle Ages, as the study of -miniatures and of cathedral sculptures will amply prove. We cannot be -surprised, therefore, to find such anti-papal signs as "Le cochon -mitré" in Compiègne. The mediæval illuminators and sculptors loved to -"hommifier" the swine and to attack under this disguise hypocritical -and voluptuous priests. In the "Doctrinal rurale" of Pierre Michault -of 1486 (in the National Library at Paris), we see a fat monk in the -pedagogue's chair, representing "concupiscence," and evidently making -such shocking remarks that his girl pupils put their fingers in their -ears, while in the delicate framework of the miniature a preaching -swine reveals the real character of this strange teacher. - -The touching scene of the "Salutatio," which inspired the artists of -the Renaissance with such noble creations as Donatello's marble relief -in Florence, is degraded now to a ridiculous bowing and scraping -between a lady and her partner or between two stylish gentlemen. The -fanatical Puritans who thundered even against the harmless Christmas -customs, so dear to the people, of course took offense at the use of -the cross for a sign and in 1643 forced the landlord of the "Golden -Cross," in the Strand, London, to take his "superstitious and -idolatrous" sign down. It is a curious irony of fate that Cromwell, -who to the present day is made responsible for nearly all -destructions in English cathedrals and who probably was an enemy, not -only of Catholic but of all signs, was himself made an object of the -signboard. - -In England more than anywhere else the sign stands for heroes and -hero-worship. Peter the Great and his visit to London were remembered -in "The Czar's Head"; English admirals and great generals like -Wellington and the Prussian King Frederic, "the great Protestant -hero," all receive "signboard-honors." London possessed still in 1881 -thirty-seven "Duke of Wellington" taverns. - -No less patriotic are the Dutch sign-painters, who love to picture -their own celebrities Rembrandt, Ruysdael, or Erasmus of Rotterdam and -the beloved Princes of Orange. One of them, the future King William -III of England, we find even as a boy on a signboard with the -inimitable Dutch inscription:-- - - "God laat hem worden groot - Bewaar hem voor de doot - Dat Kleine Manje." - -But other "merkwaardige Personen," great men of other nations, too, -receive their share of this popular homage: Frederic the Great, -Schiller, Gustavus Adolphus, and even old Cicero. Sometimes the -popularity of a hero passes quickly. The English Admiral Vernon had -hardly received signboard honors when he had to yield his place to -Frederic, the "Glorious Protestant Hero," as he was called after the -battle of Rossbach. As a rule, a few changes in the costume of the -portrait were considered sufficient by the landlord, who rarely -indulged in the luxury of an entirely new picture for the new hero. To -the English statesman, Horace Walpole, these rapid changes on the -signboard suggested the following melancholy remarks: "I pondered -these things in my breast and said to myself, 'Surely all glory is but -as a sign!'" - -The French people were more loyal to their Bonaparte signs, long after -the beloved emperor had been dethroned. For a long time the -"napoléonisme cabaretier" refused to capitulate, says Carteret. In the -country even serious fights were sometimes caused by the signs of the -Imperialists, who ten years after Waterloo showed still the famous -words, "La garde meurt et ne se rend pas," or represented the meeting -of Napoleon and Frederic with the inscription, "Le soleil luit pour -tous les héros." A tavern-keeper near Cannes, where Napoleon landed -on his return from Elba, to reconquer France, honored the memory of -the great man who rested in his inn with the words:-- - - "Chez moi c'est reposé Napoléon, - Venez boire et célèbrer son nom!" - -On the other hand, we find the men who delivered their country from -the yoke of the Corsican equally honored in signs; the tavern in which -these great men had rested were for a long time held sacred by the -people. "In Innsbruck, in the 'Golden Eagle,'" we read in Heine's -"Reisebilder," "where Andreas Hofer had lodged, and where every corner -is still filled with his portraits and mementoes, I asked the -landlord, if he knew anything of the 'Sandwirth.' Then the old -gentleman boiled over with eloquence...." - -To our great astonishment, we find even the idea of an invasion on old -English tavern signs. We know well this fear of invasion is nothing -new with our cousins. "Down the northeast wind the sea-thieves were -always coming. England should always beware of the northeast wind. It -blows her no good,"--that is the lesson the English school-children -already learn in such books as C. R. L. Fletcher's "History of -England" (Oxford, 1911), to which Rudyard Kipling has contributed most -passionate songs of patriotism. As early as 1753 the English had the -black suspicion that Frederic the Great might land fifteen thousand of -his Spartan Prussian soldiers on their coast, as if he just then had -nothing else to do. Carlyle has refuted these suspicions as -ridiculous: "King Friedrich distinguished himself by the grand human -virtue of keeping well at home--of always minding his own affairs." In -these days of the Entente Cordiale and its result the World-War, the -south wind, blowing from France, is entirely forgotten, but -nevertheless it is just there that the most serious preparations for -an invasion of England have been made repeatedly. In the year 1756 the -cry resounded: "If France land on us, we are undone"; and in 1759 -Admiral Conflans actually attempted to execute the idea with eighteen -thousand men, but the enterprise failed completely, "not on the shores -of Britain, but of Brittany." Under Napoleon the danger increased, but -after Nelson's victory of Trafalgar, Napoleon had to abandon his -maritime plans. The regained feeling of security was manifested in -many caricatures mocking Napoleon, among which we have to reckon the -sign "Old Bonaparte." Using the familiar motive of "The ass in the -bandbox," the sign-painter represents the French Emperor riding on a -donkey and sailing in a bandbox over the Channel to fight "Perfidious -Albion." - -In this connection we ask permission to tell the story of another -donkey-sign. Joseph II, Emperor of the old German Empire, whom we -might call the "traveling Kaiser" of the eighteenth century, loved to -put up at simple inns; even when he was invited by Frederic the Great, -at their first interview in Neisse, to lodge in the castle, he -preferred the liberty of having his ease at "The Three Kings." Once, -in Maestricht, he stopped at a hotel called "The Gray Donkey," and -gave the landlord as proof of his complete satisfaction the privilege -to call his house hereafter "Kaiser Joseph" and to paint on his sign -the equestrian portrait of his noble guest. But the Dutch customers -did not recognize their old tavern under such a glorious name, and the -landlord was finally obliged to put under the imperial picture the -odd words: "The Real Gray Donkey." Duke Charles of Württemberg, who -knew this fancy of the Emperor, once pleased him enormously by hanging -a big sign, "Hotel de l'Empereur," out over the portal of his castle -in Stuttgart, himself receiving the imperial visitor in the humble -costume of an obedient landlord. - -More serious political events are equally reflected in the history of -the sign. When Richard III lost throne and life at Bosworth in 1485, -the Black Bears, the heraldic animals of his royal escutcheon, -disappeared from the tavern sign and were replaced by the Blue Bear of -the Count of Oxford. It was even a dangerous thing in those days to -play with the seemingly harmless sign. A landlord of a Crown inn, who -once said jokingly that he intended to make his son the heir of the -crown, was accused of high treason and had to suffer death in 1467. -Another sign, still popular in England, "The Royal Oak," came into -vogue after the restoration of Charles II, because it reminded the -good people of the oak in which the persecuted king had found a -shelter against his enemies. When Charles I's proud head fell, a day -after his execution, "The Crown" of the poet tavern-keeper Taylor, who -possessed the courage of his conviction, appeared veiled in black. - -The sign in mourning occurs again, but this time for a very frivolous -reason. In 1736 the tavern-keepers, disgusted with the "New Act -against spirituous liquors," covered their signs with "deep mourning" -as symbol of protest. That this law had not been too severe is -evidenced by Hogarth's engraving "Gin Lane," published fifteen years -later, where we read over a tavern the disgusting announcement: "Here -gentlemen and others can get drunk for a penny, dead drunk for -twopence." - -Macaulay has pointed out the great importance of public-houses as -political meeting-grounds. Party congresses of the Liberals were held -in the early day in "The Rose," but in general the Whigs preferred -places that had a punchbowl on their sign, punch being at the end of -the seventeenth century not only a very popular beverage, but -decidedly a "Whig drink," while the Tories drank mostly--_noblesse -oblige_--wine or champagne. We find the punchbowl either alone or in -more or less logical combinations, as "Ship and Punchbowl," "Parrot -and Punchbowl," "Half-Moon and Punchbowl," and the like. - -An old American sign, "The Federal Punch," is evidently a revised -edition of the Whig sign of the mother country. The business of -imbibing the party drink was not forgotten in these political -meetings. In fact, the Tories attended to it one time so thoroughly in -their Apollo Tavern in Fleet Street that they were unable to execute -their own decision to go "in a body" to King William to present him an -address of thanks. "They were induced to forego their intention; and -not without cause: for a great crowd of squires after a revel, at -which doubtless neither October nor claret had been spared, might have -caused some inconvenience in the present chamber." Finally they -decided to send as their representative an elderly country gentleman -who was, for a wonder, still sober. - -Beside these respectable meeting-places of the two great parties there -were "treason taverns," suspicious ale-houses, where plotters and -hired murderers, not without the encouragement of the exiled king -James II, forged their black plans against the life of William, the -Prince of Orange. One of these places had the fitting name "The Dog" -in Drury Lane, "a tavern which was frequented by lawless and desperate -men." - -[Illustration: THE·DOG·AND·POT·196·BLACKFRIARS·ROAD·IN·LONDON·] - -We will end our enumeration of politically important taverns with the -"Cadran Bleu" in Paris, where the Marseillais were greeted by the -Parisians after they had completed their long journey across the whole -of France, singing for the first time the famous song of the -Revolution: "Marchez, abattez le tyran." "Patriot clasps dusty -patriot to his bosom, there is footwashing and reflection: dinner of -twelve hundred covers at the Blue Dial, Cadran Bleu." - -To the present day the right to assemble freely in the tavern, "this -temple of true liberty," is suspiciously guarded by all parties. To -the present day the tavern serves all kinds of political and social -clubs and sometimes even burial societies similar to those of which -Washington Irving has told us such amusing stories, as "The Swan and -Horseshoe" and "Cock and Crown," once flourishing in the heart of -London, in Little Britain. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -TRAVELING WITH GOETHE AND FREDERIC THE GREAT - -[Illustration: Zur Post Bietigheim, Württemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER X - -TRAVELING WITH GOETHE AND FREDERIC THE GREAT - - "Ici toute liberté, Monsieur, comme si nous étions au cabaret." - - FREDERIC THE GREAT. - - -There is a surprising parallelism between the fathers of these two -greatest men of the eighteenth century. These fathers, whom -narrow-minded critics usually call pedants, transmitted to their sons -the great gift of "life's serious conduct." Rarely has the old -Councillor Goethe found so much just appreciation as Carlyle has shown -for Frederic William I. The character of both the sons constitutes a -happy combination of this serious paternal heritage and the joyful -element of sanguine optimism. Both, although they owe perhaps most to -their fathers, feel themselves drawn to the softer natures of their -mothers, who hardly ever refused them any wish. And most of us prefer -to share with them the love of their charming mothers, Frau Rath and -Sophie Dorothea,--because it is always more agreeable to be loved -than to be educated,--and reserve for the fathers at best a cool -esteem. - -Travel for pleasure or sport was unknown to the old Spartan King of -Prussia, as indeed it was to his greater son, who did not even -appreciate the sport of hunting. When they traveled it was for the -inspection of the administration of their country or to review their -troops. Old Frederic William, in his great simplicity, preferred even -to pass the night in airy barns than to sleep in stuffy rooms. -"Dinner-table to be spread always in some airy place, garden-house, -tent, big clean barn,--Majesty likes air, of all things;--will sleep -too, in a clean barn or garden-house: better anything than being -stifled, thinks his Majesty." We never hear that he stopped at inns, -and Frederic, too, we meet only rarely in taverns, once in -Braunschweig in Korn's Hotel, where he was received one night in the -Freemasons' lodge very secretly because his severe papa despised such -childish fooleries utterly. Occasionally, perhaps, while in Potsdam he -visits inns like "The Three Crowns," where one could find better food, -he says, than at the table of his Mecklenburg cousins in their castle -Mirow. In the first year of his reign, when he traveled _incognito_ -to French Alsace, he had very distressing experiences in different -taverns. In a letter to Voltaire he describes in French verses the -various accidents of this trip:-- - - "Avec de coursiers efflanqués - En ligne droite issus de Rosinante, - Et des paysans en postillons masqués, - Butors de race impertinente, - Notre carosse en cent lieux accroché, - Nous allions gravement, d'une allure indolente, - Gravitant contre les rochers." - -Traveling all day in the worst of weathers, as if the last day of -judgment had come, and in the evening to get a poor meal in a -miserable tavern--and a large bill:-- - - "Car des hôtes intéressés - De la faim nous voyant pressés, - D'une façon plus que frugale - Dans une chaumière infernale - En nous empoisonnant, nous volaient nos écus. - O siècle différent des temps de Lucullus!" - -The landlord of the "Post" in Kehl demands passes from Frederic and -his companions, and Frederic fabricates them himself with his Prussian -seal. Again in Strassburg they present the same passes to the custom -officials, not without adding a gold coin:-- - - "L'or, plus dieu que Mars et l'Amour, - Le même or sut nous introduire, - Le soir, dans les murs de Strassbourg." - -Here they stop at "The Raven," where Frederic immediately began to -study the French people. His judgment is not very flattering, although -he communicates it to his French friend:-- - - "Non, des vils Français vous n'êtes pas du nombre, - Vous pensez, ils ne pensent point." - -In the evening he invites even French officers to dine with him and -the following morning goes to a military review. Here one of his own -soldiers, a Prussian deserter, "un malheureux pendard," recognizes -him; he quickly hurries back to "The Raven," pays his bill, and leaves -Strassburg, never to see it again. - -Like the old king, Frederic preferred to stop in rectories when -traveling through the Prussian lands, but sometimes was prevented from -doing so by his very faithful but very independent coachman Pfund. If -the pastor had forgotten to give this important person his due tip on -the last visit, Pfund would surely cut him on future occasions, and -force his old master to go on to the next town, where he was sure to -find a host of better manners. This sin of omission was rarely -committed by pastors who received the honor of a royal visit, because -they could very well afford to humor old Pfund a little, when they -themselves received from the otherwise economical king the handsome -"royalty" of fifty dollars for a dinner and one hundred dollars for -dinner and a night's lodging. General von der Marwitz has told us the -story of how Pfund once opposed the king, who was tired and wanted to -stop in the rectory of Dolgelin, by saying the sun was not yet down -and they could well reach the next town, and how the old king -patiently submitted to the will of his Automedon. But there is a limit -even to the patience of old kings, and on one occasion, when Pfund -went too far in his rudeness, Frederic rebelled, and, to teach his -coachman morals, ordered him forthwith to cart manure and fagots with -a team of donkeys. After a year the king happened to meet him, busily -engaged in his new and modest occupation, and kindly inquired: "How -d'ye do?" The coachman's classic answer August Kopisch has celebrated -in a song which we venture to translate:-- - - "'Well, if I can drive,' says Pound, - On his box quite firm and round, - 'I do not care - How I fare, - If with horses or with asses, carting - Fagots or His Majesty the King.' - - "Then old Frederic, taking snuff, - Looked at Pound and told the rough: - 'Well, if you don't care - How you really fare, - If with horses or with asses, logs or kings you cart, - Quick unload, drive ME again, and take a start!'" - -Goethe's father, although himself the son of a landlord, disliked inns -and public-houses very keenly, as we read in Goethe's autobiography, -"Dichtung und Wahrheit": "This feeling had rooted itself firmly in him -on his travels through Italy, France, and Germany. Although he seldom -spoke in images, and only called them to his aid when he was very -cheerful, yet he used often to repeat that he always fancied he saw a -great cobweb spun across the gate of an inn, so ingeniously that the -insects could indeed fly in but that even the privileged wasps could -not fly out again unplucked. It seemed to him something horrible, that -one should be obliged to pay immoderately for renouncing one's habits -and all that was dear to one in life and living after the manner of -publicans and waiters. He praised the hospitality of the olden time, -and reluctantly as he otherwise endured even anything unusual in the -house, he yet practiced hospitality...." This excessive aversion to -all inns the great son inherited from his father, although he admitted -it was a weakness. We are therefore not surprised to see the student -Goethe, when he for the first time traveled full of longing to Dresden -in the yellow coach, lodge in the modest quarters of a philosophical -cobbler, whose home seemed to him as romantic and picturesque as an -old Dutch painting. Perhaps it was the memory of this interior that -inspired Goethe later, when he was called "Doktor Wolf" by his proud -mother, to arrange in "The Star" at Weimar, in honor of the Duchess -Anna Amalie, a "festivity in clair-obscure" with the distinct purpose -of creating a Rembrandt scene. - -But before we wander in the far world with the student and doctor, let -us take a stroll through the Frankfurt of his childhood and admire the -many signs that still decorated, not inns alone, but also, houses of -private citizens. The "Goldene Wage," situated on the Domplatz and -built in 1625, as well as the "Grosse Engel," opposite the Römer, are -still standing, and are filled to-day with the treasures of art-loving -antiquarians. Recollections of his childhood passed through Goethe's -mind when he described in "Hermann und Dorothea" the pharmacy "Zum -Engel," near the "Golden Lion" on the market-place, and the old -bachelor chemist who was too stingy to regild his angel-sign:-- - - "Who now-a-days can afford to pay for the numerous workmen? - Lately I thought to have new-gilt the figure which stands as my - shop-sign, - The Archangel Michael with horrible dragon around his feet - writhing: - But as they are I have left them all dingy, for fear of the - charges." - -The father of some boy friends of Goethe's, a Herr von Senckenberg, -"lived at the corner of Hare Street, which took its name from a sign -on the house that represented one hare at least if not three hares." -Von Senckenberg's three sons were consequently called the "three -hares," which nickname they could not shake off for a long while. - -[Illustration: AVX TROIS LAPINS] - -It was in the "Golden Lion" at Frankfurt that Voltaire was arrested -and interned on his word of honor until his luggage containing the -stolen "Oeuvre de Poésies" of Frederic the Great should arrive. In -these poems the king had ridiculed several crowned heads, and it was -of the utmost importance for him to get them back before the -revengeful Frenchman could make use of them against him. But for some -reason or other the trunks did not arrive, and Voltaire, losing -patience and "without warning anybody, privately revoked said word of -honor" and tried to escape, an attempt that failed and ended in a -tragic-comic fashion. Father Goethe, who loved to tell this story to -his children as a warning example never to seek the favors of princes, -does not agree here with Carlyle in the name of the tavern, but says -it was "The Rose" in which "this extraordinary poet and writer was -held as a prisoner for a considerable time." When the fugitive was -brought back, the landlord of the tavern refused to take him in again, -and the "Bock" became for the rest of the time his involuntary -lodging-place. - -In spite of this bad example and his father's distinct warnings, -Goethe in 1778 accepted the invitation of the Duke of Weimar to the -"Römische Kaiser" in Frankfurt, where he was "joyfully and graciously" -received, and where definite arrangements were made for his removal to -Weimar. - -After the death of Goethe's father, Mutter Aja sold the old homestead -on the Hirschgraben and took a flat in the "Goldenen Brunnen" on the -Rossmarket, where the golden fountain of her good humor continued to -flow for all her friends, but where she no longer had such facilities -for entertaining guests as in the roomy house of old. When, therefore, -her daughter-in-law and her grandson, the "liebe Augst," came to -visit her, she ordered rooms for them in "The Swan." Her apartment in -the "Golden Fountain" we know from her own lively description in a -letter to her son, who visited her here several times before her death -in 1808. - -Let us now accompany the student Goethe to Strassburg and pay a visit -to the inn "Zum Geist," where his friendship with Herder, so important -for his future development, was formed. "I visited Herder morning and -evening, I even remained whole days with him ... and daily learned to -appreciate his beautiful and great qualities, his extensive knowledge, -and his profound views." In Leipzig, the next university where Goethe -studied, he lived in a house, between the old and the new market, -which was called after its sign "Die Feuerkugel." One of the first -calls he made was to the literary dictator Gottsched, who "lived very -respectably in the first story of the 'Golden Bear,' where the elder -Breitkopf, on account of the great advantage which Gottsched's -writings had brought to the trade, had assured him a lodging for -life." This Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf was the inventor of music -printing and the founder of the famous publishing firm of to-day. His -house, the "Golden Bear," number 11 Universitätsstrasse, is to-day the -home of the Royal Saxon Institute for universal history and the -history of civilization, founded by the distinguished historian -Lamprecht. In Goethe's day Breitkopf's son built a great new house -opposite the "Golden Bear" which was called "Zum Silbernen Bären." - -A very popular sign in those days, in Germany, and especially in the -neighborhood of Frankfurt, was the pentacle. Goethe calls it simply -the beer-sign in his autobiography, where he tells us a charming story -based on an ingenious and humorous interpretation of the two triangles -which compose the sign. While still living as a young lawyer in Mutter -Aja's house, he entertained two distinguished visitors, the famous -Lavater and the educational reformer Basedow. To amuse them he -arranged carriage drives in the pleasant country around his native -town. We see the young fire-brand sitting between these two dignified -men:-- - - "The prophets sat on either side, - The world-child sat between them." - -On one of these excursions Basedow had offended the pious and -sweet-tempered Lavater by his cynical remarks about the Trinity and so -spoiled the pleasant atmosphere of good comradeship. Goethe punished -him in the following humorous manner. "The weather was warm and the -tobacco smoke had perhaps contributed to the dryness of Basedow's -palate; he was dying for a glass of beer. Seeing a tavern at a -distance on the road he eagerly ordered the coachman to stop there." -But Goethe urged him to go on without seeming to mind the furious -protest of the thirsty Basedow, whom he simply calmed with the words: -"Father, be quiet, you ought to thank me! Luckily you didn't see the -beer-sign! It was two triangles put together across each other. Now, -you commonly get mad about one triangle, and if you had set your eye -on two we should have had to put you in a strait-jacket." - -On his first journey to Switzerland, in company with the Stollbergs, -he stayed at the hotel "Zum Schwert," which is still standing. "The -view of the lake of Zürich which we enjoyed from the Gate of the Sword -is still before me." On the Rigi they lodged in the "Ochsen," and -here from the window of his room, he sketched one Sunday morning the -chapel of the "Madonna in the Snow." In the evening they sat before -the tavern door, under the sign, and enjoyed the music of the gurgling -fountain and a substantial meal consisting of baked fish, eggs, and -"sufficient" wine. On his second trip to Switzerland in 1779-80 we -meet him, together with his noble friend the Duke of Weimar, in "The -Eagle" at Constance, where Montaigne had lodged more than two hundred -years before. - -We could mention many other hospitable thresholds which the great -genius crossed: "The Red Cock" in Nuremberg, now an elegant building -that reminds us little of the ancient low house with its large gate; -or the "Hotel Victoria" in Venice, whose owner recalls to the modern -traveler Goethe's visit in a proud memorial tablet. "I lodged well in -the 'Königin von England,' not far from the market-place, the greatest -advantage of the inn." But if he could find private quarters he -preferred them to public-houses; so in Rome, where he was very glad to -be received in the home of the painter Tischbein. - -There is sufficient evidence that Goethe took an artistic interest in -signs, since he invented one himself for his puppet play "Hanswurst's -Hochzeit," where we read the bewitching rhyme:-- - - "The wedding-feast is at the house - Of mine host of the Golden Louse." - -In "Truth and Poetry" he has given us the scheme of the play, which -was never really executed. Like a born stage manager, he proposed a -kind of turning stage: "The tavern with its glittering insignia was -placed so that all its four sides could be presented to view by being -turned upon a peg." This patent idea of a turning inn showing its -golden sign and its door open to travelers from the four quarters of -the globe, might please the modern landlord too, even if he did not -care exactly for the super-sign of a "Golden Louse," "magnified by the -solar-microscope!" - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE ENGLISH SIGN AND ITS PECULIARITIES - -[Illustration: Lamb and Flag East Bath, England] - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE ENGLISH SIGN AND ITS PECULIARITIES - - "Freedom I love, and form I hate - And choose my lodgings at an inn." - - WILLIAM SHENSTONE. - - -We cannot resist the temptation to quote as an introduction the -_ipsissima verba_ of England's classical historian Macaulay on the -evolution of public hospitality in his country. Most naturally the -evolution of the sign runs parallel to the evolution of the tavern, -and in a time of flourishing inns we may expect to find highly -developed tavern signs. "From a very early period," says Macaulay, in -a chapter on the social condition of England in 1685, "the inns of -England had been renowned. Our first great poet had described the -excellent accommodation which they afforded to the pilgrims of the -fourteenth century. Nine and twenty persons, with their horses, found -room in the wide chambers and stables of the Tabard in Southwark. The -food was of the best, and the wines such as drew the company on to -drink largely. Two hundred years later, under the reign of Elizabeth, -William Harrison gave a lively description of the plenty and comfort -of the great hostelries. The continent of Europe, he said, could show -nothing like them. There were some in which two or three hundred -people could without difficulty be lodged and fed. The bedding, the -tapestry above all, the abundance of clean and fine linen was a matter -of wonder. Valuable plate was often set on the tables. Nay, there were -signs which had cost thirty or forty pounds. In the seventeenth -century England abounded with excellent inns of every rank. The -travelers sometimes, in a small village, lighted on a public-house -such as Walton has described, where the brick floor was swept clean, -where the walls were stuck round with ballads, where the sheets -smelled of lavender, and where a blazing fire, a cup of good ale, and -a dish of trout fresh from the neighboring brook, were to be procured -at small charge. At the larger houses of entertainment were to be -found beds hung with silk, choice cookery, and claret equal to the -best which was drunk in London." - -A sign that costs one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars -would be, even in our days of high-paid labor, a thing worth looking -at. In the times of the Renaissance it certainly was a work of -excellent craftsmanship, sculptured in wood and richly gilded. On an -extensive tour through England which brought us to the charming -western fishing-village of Clovelly, with its "New Inn" and the more -romantic "Red Lion" down by the little harbor, and to Chester, in the -north, founded by the Romans, we were disappointed to find so few old -signs of artistic value. We found very few carved in wood like "The -Blue Boar" in Lincoln or "The Swan" in Wells, from whose windows the -beautiful western façade of the cathedral, unusually rich in -sculptures, is seen through the green veil of huge old trees. This -swan sign shows certain characteristics of the period of the First -Empire, and surely does not date back beyond 1800. Also the famous -"Four Swans" in the little town of Waltham Cross, north of London, -perhaps the only existing example of an old English custom to -construct the sign like a triumphant arch across the street, are not -so old as the tavern, which a bold inscription dates in the year -1260. How could a sign delicately carved in wood resist the inclemency -of the weather, when the stone sculptures of the cathedrals,--as in -Exeter, for instance, or in Salisbury,--although leaning against the -protecting walls of these gigantic structures, suffered so much? To -please the lovers of antiquity some owners of old houses put the most -arbitrary dates of their foundation on the neatly-painted fronts. In -the street in Chester that leads down to "The Bear and Billet," one of -England's oldest frame houses, we saw the date 1006 painted on a -façade, evidently built in Renaissance times. Other burghers and -house-owners who have more respect for exact historic truth, see, of -course, in such misleading inscriptions an unfair competition. - -[Illustration: THE·SWAN·IN·WELLS·] - -[Illustration: Ye Olde Four Swans·in Waltham Cross·England·1260·] - -Signs wrought in iron seem to have been rare in England, the art of -forging being less developed there than in the south of Germany. -Curiously enough the South-Kensington Museum in London, an enormous -storehouse of old works of arts and crafts, contains not a single -English sign, but a very beautifully forged iron sign from Germany, -dated 1635,--a baker's sign, as the great crown and the heraldic lions -reveal to us. A friendly assistant at the Museum showed us another -German sign dating from the end of the seventeenth century, charmingly -carved and gilded, representing the workshop of a shoemaker. These two -were the only signs that the Museum possessed. - -The old London signs have all found a very dismal refuge in the dimly -lighted cellar of the Guild Hall. Some of them are stone sculptures of -considerable size like the giant sign "Bull and Mouth." Here too we -find certain technical curiosities, as, "The Dolphin" of 1730 painted -on copper, and more unusual still, "The Cock and Bottle," a neat and -dainty design composed of blue-and-white Dutch tiles. The foggy and -damp climate has often injured not only the carved woodwork of the -signboard, but still more the painting on it. The beam on which it -hangs might be very old; the painting itself is always of recent date -even if the artist, following an old tradition, sometimes produces -quaint effects. As an example of how quickly the work of the -sign-painter darkens beyond recognition, we may cite "The Falstaff" in -Canterbury. It was not a year since the landlady had hung out this -picture of the blustering knight in a bold fencing-pose that we saw it -last, and it was already very difficult to distinguish the details of -the composition; while another painting--the immediate predecessor of -the sign in the street--which the friendly Dame showed us on the -staircase was as black and bare as a slate. Sometimes the frames of -the pictures are carved and allow us to guess the date of their -origin; but, as a rule, the perfectly plain signboard hangs out on a -strong beam. A typical example is "The Falcon" in Stratford-on-Avon. - -The higher the artistic value of the painting on the signboards was, -the more we have to regret that so much art was wasted on such a -perishable production. In the eighteenth century the coach-painters, -whose craftsmanship on old equipages, sledges, and sedan-chairs we -still admire in many a museum, used to produce most elegant signs and -received for their work astonishingly high prices. Shaken by winds, -whipped by rainstorms, their beauty was soon gone. Nowhere have we -found them either in collections or in the light of the street. Only -in literary tradition does there still live a part of the charm of all -these burned and weather-killed things of beauty. - -But one device we discovered in England to restore the old forms, -namely, the so-called club signs. Just as the printer's marks often -reproduce _en miniature_ the sign of the publisher, so the club signs -give a reduced picture of the old tavern signs, especially of those -that were cut as silhouettes in metal plates. The very first printers -of the fifteenth century loved to introduce into their books these -little designs symbolizing their names. Peter Drach in Speyer used two -little shields, one containing a winged dragon and the other, as a -friendly compensation, a Christmas tree and two stars. Johannes -Sensenschmied, a proud "civis Nurembergensis," had two crossed scythes -(_Sensen_) in his escutcheon. These same designs appear later on the -front page of a volume, neatly engraved on copper, often reproducing -the sign of the bookshop to which one had to go if one wanted to buy -this particular book. A Parisian publisher adopted "La Samaritaine," -which to-day has become the name of a great department store. Mr. -Léonard Plaignard, of Lyon, called his shop "Au grand Hercule," and -put the Greek hero on the front page of his books with the -inscription: "Virtus non territa monstris." Just as these little -engravings may give us an idea of the old publishers' signs, so we may -gain from the club signs some suggestions as to how the old signboards -looked. - -On Whitsunday the club members used to fasten these small brass -imitations of their beloved tavern sign to poles and carry them in -solemn procession through the astonished town. At the end of the club -walking, it is whispered, many were unable to hold the poles as -straight as they wished. The museum of the quiet little town of -Taunton possesses a remarkable series of such club signs. It has -become quite a fad in England to collect these little polished brass -figures, since the public has got tired of the warming-pan craze. - -Morris dancers sometimes joined in the club processions, among them -the green or wild man, Robin Hood, famous in song and story; they -amused the crowd with such charming airs as as-- - - "'O, my Billy, my constant Billy, - When shall I see my Billy again?' - 'When the fishes fly over the mountain, - Then you'll see your Billy again.'" - -[Illustration: SALUTATION INN IN MANGOTSFIELD] - -Our design of two gentlemen saluting each other politely is such a -club sign, reproducing in miniature the sign of the "Salutation Inn" -in Mangotsfield, and representing the last link in the chain of -salutation signs, which began with the old religious scene of Mary -saluted by the angel. - -Price Collier, in his book "England and the English," has dedicated a -whole chapter to English sport, on which the nation spends every year -$223,888,725, more than the cost of her entire military machine, navy -and army together. On fox hunting alone she spends $43,790,000. This -love of sport is an old English trait, shared by both sexes. One of -the first books printed in England was a book on sport, "The Bokys of -Haukyng and Huntyng," supposed to be written by a lady, Juliana -Berners, the prioress of the nunnery of Sopwell, and published for -the first time in the new black art in 1486. A schoolmaster of the -abbey school of St. Albans had arranged the edition, and it is -therefore sometimes quoted as "The Book of St. Albans." No wonder, -then, that such a popular subject was readily chosen by the sign -painters, and that they love to picture the hunted animals, the white -hart and the fox, and not less often the faithful companions of the -hunter, dog and horse, hawk and falcon. - -[Illustration: THE PACK-HORSE IN ·CHIPPENHAM·] - -A great rôle is played by the horse, not only as the heraldic animal -in the coat of arms of the Saxons and of the House of Hanover, but the -real beast, from the good old pack-horse to the lithe-limbed racer. In -the early Middle Ages, when the roads were so bad that it was -impossible for heavy wagons to travel on them, the pack-horse was the -only medium for the transportation of goods, post-packages, and mail. -Those were hard days for impatient lovers, who would have preferred to -send their _billets-doux_ in Shakespearean fashion, "making the wind -my post-horse." Sometimes the horse's burden, the wool-pack--the wool -business being the chief trade in England in the twelfth -century--appears on the signboard. In fact, in the time of Ben Jonson -"The Woolpack" was one of the leading hostelries of London. - -Another sign is the race-horse, celebrated by Shakespeare in such -lines as:-- - - "And I have horse will follow where the game - Makes way, and run like swallows o'er the plain." - -from "Titus Andronicus" (II, ii), or those other lines in "Pericles" -(II, i):-- - - "Upon a courser, whose delightful steps - Shall make the gazer joy to see him tread." - -In the reign of Henry VIII, a tavern called "The Running Horses" -existed in Leatherhead, a place not exactly fitted for noble hunters, -since a contemporary poet complains about the beer being served there -"in rather disgusting conditions." Not infrequently we find more or -less happy portraits of famous race-horses, such as "The Flying -Dutchman" and "Bee's Wing"; sometimes even a hound was honored in this -way, guarding the entrance of a tavern as his famous Roman colleague, -pictured in mosaic, did in the days of antiquity. "The Blue Cap" in -Sandiway (Cheshire) was such a sign. - -In Chaucer's time it was a popular fashion to decorate the horses with -little bells, as we may infer from the Abbot's Tale:-- - - "When he rode men his bridle hear, - Gingling in a whistling wind as clere, - And eke as loud as doth a chapel bell." - -Curiously enough, these bells, sometimes of silver and gold, are -designated in old manuscripts by the Italian word _campane_, as if -this custom had been adopted by the English gentry from Italy. The -"gentyll horse" of the Duke of Northumberland, the old documents would -tell us, was decorated with "campane of silver and gylt." Most -naturally such valuable bells were very welcome as prizes in the -sporting world; in Chester, for instance, the great prize of the -annual race on St. George's Day consisted of a beautiful golden bell -richly adorned with the royal escutcheon. But independent of this -custom the bell has always been very popular in England. The great -German musician Händel has even called it the national musical -instrument, because nowhere else, perhaps, do the people delight so -much in the chimes of their churches. We find it, therefore, -everywhere on the tavern sign, sometimes in absurd combinations like -"Bell and Candlestick" or "Bell and Lion"; very prettily in connection -with a wild man, "Bell Savage," which is changed under gallant French -influence into "Belle Sauvage," or even "La Belle Sauvage." "Cock and -Bell" points again to a popular sport, the cock-fight. Like the little -slant-eyed Japanese, the small boys of Old England loved to watch this -exciting game; on Lent-Tuesday special cock-fights were arranged for -them, and the happy little owner of the victorious animal was -presented with a tiny silver bell to wear on his cap. No wonder that -"The Fighting Cocks" themselves appear on the signboard. We find them -on taverns in Italy, too, where the popularity of this sport goes back -to the Roman days. The Bluebeard King Henry VIII issued an order -prohibiting all cock-fights among his subjects, all the while -establishing for himself a cockpit in White Hall as a royal -prerogative. In the days of Queen Victoria the rather cruel sport was -definitely abolished. - -Another not less cruel sport still lives in the tavern sign "Dog and -Duck." The birds were put into a small pond and chased by dogs. -Watching the frightened creatures dive to escape their pursuers -constituted the chief joy of the performance. We may still hear the -wild cries of the spectators urging on the dogs, when we read the old -rhyme:-- - - "Ho, ho, to Islington; enough! - Fetch Job my son, and our dog Ruffe! - For there in Pond, through mire and muck, - We'll cry: hay Duck, there Ruffe, hay Duck!" - -An old stone sign of such a "Dog and Duck" tavern, dated 1617, can -still be seen in London outside of the Bethlehem Hospital in St. -George's Field. The popular name of this lunatic asylum is -Bedlam--favorite word of Carlyle to designate confusion and chaos. - -Here in South London special arenas were built for the spectacle of -bear-baiting, and it is no chance that as early as in the time of -Richard III the most popular tavern of this quarter was called "The -Bear." It stood near London Bridge, and was frequented especially by -aristocratic revelers. In these scenes of rough amusements for the -people the muse of Shakespeare introduced the gentle dramatic arts. -Here his "Henry V" was introduced for the first time, perhaps, with -its solemn chorus: "Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France?" - -Still more than these artificial and butchery sports of the citizen, -the real joys of the hunter found their echo in the productions of the -sign-painters. There is hardly an English town without a "White Hart -Inn." Since the days of Alexander the Great, who once caught a -beautiful white hart and decorated his slender neck with a golden -ring, since Charlemagne and Henry the Lion, the white hart has been a -special favorite of the hunter, whose joys no poet perhaps has sung so -charmingly as Shakespeare in these lines of "Titus Andronicus" (II, ii -and iii):-- - - "The hunt is up, the morn is bright and grey, - The fields are fragrant, and the woods are green: - Uncouple here - - * * * * * - - The birds chaunt melody on every bush; - The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun; - The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind, - And make a chequer'd shadow on the ground: - Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit, - And--whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds, - Replying shrilly to the well-tun'd horns, - As if a double hunt were heard at once once-- - Let us sit down...." - -Another group of signs celebrates Master Reynard. We see him harassed -by dogs and riders on the sign "Fox and Hounds" in Barley -(Hertfordshire). We miss only the sportive ladies who dip their -kerchiefs of lace in the poor devil's blood to show that they, too, -were in at the finish. This sign, by the way, was used long centuries -ago, since we hear of a "Fox and Hounds Inn" in Putney that claims to -be over three hundred years old. - -The German Nimrod took no less pleasure than his English cousin in -seeing a hunter's sign on the tavern door, as is amply proved by the -many golden harts, flying in great bounds, or our George sign from -Degerloch, daintily wrought in iron. The German poets, too, sang many -a song celebrating the adventures of the chase. - -[Illustration: ZUM HIRSHEN WINNENDEN] - -Not so often do we find on the Continent the so-called "punning sign," -which might well be called an English specialty, since England's -greatest poet used to indulge a great deal in punning,--"mistaking the -word" as he calls it. In a dialogue full of quibbles in the "Two -Gentlemen of Verona" he admits himself that it is a weakness to yield -to it:-- - - "_Speed._ How now, Signior Launce? What news with your - mastership? - - "_Launce._ With my master's ship? Why, it is at sea. - - "_Speed._ Well, your old vice still: mistake the word. - What news then in your paper? - - "_Launce._ The blackest news that ever thou heard'st. - - "_Speed._ Why, man, how black? - - "_Launce._ Why, as black as ink." - -And thus he goes on against his better judgment and "the old vice" -triumphs, not only here, but in nearly all his plays. Following the -illustrious example of the great poet the English landlord puts all -kinds of puns and puzzles on his signs, and the private citizen of -simple birth and aristocratic ambitions created for himself the most -ridiculous escutcheons by childish plays upon his own name. Thus, Mr. -Haton would put a hat and a tun in his coat of arms and Mr. Luton a -lute and a tun without giving a thought to etymology. Likewise the -landlord's name would account for such curious signs as "Hand and -Cock," which was simply the punning sign of a certain John Hancock in -Whitefriars. - -Diligent authors like Frederic Naab--who, together with Thormanby, -made a special study of sign puzzles--are indefatigable in searching -out the deep meaning of all these tavern sign absurdities. "The Pig -and Whistle" alone has been explained in twelve different ways. We -mentioned above how "The Cat and Fiddle" was a mutilation of the old -religious sign of "Catherine and Wheel." In similar fashion the -noble-sounding "Bacchanals" were degraded to a common "Bag of Nails." - -Topers and tipplers, whose forte was certainly not orthography, loved -to confuse "bear" and "beer," words that might very well sound alike -when pronounced by beery voices. A certain Thomas Dawson in Leeds, who -evidently sold a rather heavy beer, warned his customers on his sign: -"Beware of ye Beare." Lovers of cards invented the amusing distortion -of "Pique and Carreau" into "The Pig and Carrot." The popular -political sign of "The Four Alls," representing a King ("I rule all"), -a Priest ("I pray for all"), a Soldier ("I fight for all"), and John -Bull as farmer ("I pay for all"), was changed into "Four Awls," a sign -which presented infinitely less difficulties to a painter of few -resources. Sometimes the Devil is added as fifth figure saying, "I -take all." - -Cromwell's soldiers once took offense at the sign of a tavern where -they were obliged to put up for the night. They took it down and in -its place wrote over the door the words, "God encompasses us." The -next day, when they were gone, the landlord had the brilliant idea to -change the pious words to the punning sign, "Goat and compasses." -Maybe, too, the compasses were a commercial trade-mark, as we see them -still to-day on boxes and casks. - -Very popular was the joking sign, "The Labor in Vain," representing a -woman occupied in the hopeless task of washing a colored boy:-- - - "You may wash and scrub him from morning till night, - Your labor's in vain, black will never come white." - -This particular sign was imported from France, where the _calembour_ -sign flourished. Some even say that the punning sign became popular in -England only "after Edward ye 3 had conquered France." The French have -two interpretations of the "Labor in Vain": one corresponds with the -English version; the other, "Au temps perdu," represents a -schoolmaster teaching an ass. As counterpart we find "Le temps gagné," -a peasant carrying his donkey. The French _calembours_ were decidedly -less reverential than the English punning signs. Neither religion nor -good morals are sacred to the Gallic wag, who is allowed to say -anything if he understands how to turn it gracefully. "Le Signe de la -croix" is depicted by a swan (_cygne_) and a cross, and even the -tragic scene of Jesus taken prisoner in the Garden of Gethsemane--_le -juste pris_--is turned into the shameless words, "Au juste prix," to -advertise the cheapness of drinks and victuals. More innocent is the -distortion of the "Lion d'or" into the undeniable truth, "Au lit on -dort," or the inscription on a white-horse sign: "Ici on loge à pied -et à cheval." The temptation to use such _calembours_ no trader could -resist. A corset-maker praised his goods thus: "Je soutiens les -faibles, je comprime les forts, je ramène les égarés." We shall see in -the following chapter how such pointed jokes and blasphemies roused -the righteous indignation of the honorable and pious citizens and -increased the enemies of the sign, who finally gave it the _coup de -grâce_. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE ENEMIES OF THE SIGN AND ITS END - -[Illustration: Cavallo Bianco, Borgo San Dalmazzo, Italy] - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE ENEMIES OF THE SIGN AND ITS END - - "Ne songez pas même à réformer les enseignes d'une ville!" - - -In mediæval times the signs were not only charming or pious -decorations of the snug narrow streets, but they were also very useful -and practical guides for the wayfarer through the labyrinth of crooked -lanes. Even the uneducated understood their pictorial language like -illustrations in a book which give even to a child a certain -clue to its meaning. For this very reason the learned Sebastian -Brant decorated his edition of Virgil of 1522 with elaborate -pictures,--_expolitissimis figuris atque imaginibus nuper per -Sebastianum Brant superadditis_,--firmly hoping that now even the -unlearned would easily understand the beauties of his beloved author: -"_Nec minus indoctus perlegere illa potest_." While the learned men in -general continued to despise pictures in their editions of the -classics, the first popular books tried through their wood-cuts to -speak to the fancy of the common people and thus win their applause. -Just as these pictures in the old books, so the signs in the streets -spoke to the _indoctus_. Therefore, if somebody wished to send a -letter to his banker in Fleet Street, London, he needed only to tell -his messenger that it was at the "Three Squirrels," and he was sure -that even the greatest numskull could find it. Unfortunately the -owners of this old banking-house have withdrawn the sign, so it took -me quite a while before I found it safely hung up on a modern iron arm -in the office of Messrs. Barclay & Co., No. 19, Fleet Street. The -characteristic interpretation of the sign, given to me by the banker -himself, was: "May you never want a nut to crack." - -[Illustration: ·THREE·SQUIRRELS·LONDON·] - -In the old times the streets were not yet numbered, as Macaulay tells -us, not even at the end of the seventeenth century. "There would -indeed have been little advantage in numbering them; for of the -coachmen, chairmen, porters, and errand-boys of London, a very small -proportion could read.... The shops were therefore distinguished by -painted signs, which gave a gay and grotesque aspect to the streets. -The walk from Charing Cross to Whitechapel lay through an endless -succession of Saracens' Heads, Royal Oaks, Blue Bears, and Golden -Lambs, which disappeared when they were no longer required for the -direction of the common people." As a useful guide to find one's way -the sign was expressly recognized by the state authorities; so in a -privilege granted by Charles I to the inhabitants of London to hang -out signs "for the better finding out such citizens' dwellings, shops, -arts, or occupations." For the landlords, it was even made obligatory -so as to facilitate the police in determining if the laws concerning -the liquor trade were properly observed. An Act of Parliament in the -reign of Henry VI forced the brewers to hang out signs and an -ordinance of Louis XIV for Paris distinctly demands: "Pour donner à -connoître les lieux où se vendent les vins en détail et si les -réglements y sont observez, nul ne pourra tenir taverne en cette dite -ville et faubourgs sans mettre enseigne et bouchon." Similar -regulations we find in Switzerland; as, for instance, in Maienfeld -where the city fathers punished every one who kept tavern without an -"open sign." Through such restrictions they hoped to stop the -competition of the simple burgher, "the temporary landlord," who tried -to sell the surplus product of his own vineyard, and thus to secure -the patronage of all thirsty souls for the legal "Schildwirt," the -landlord with a sign, even if he lived only from the "bouchon" or -cork and could not accommodate guests overnight. - -[Illustration: ZUR GLOCKE WINNENDEN] - -If they had not a sign out, how could the watchman, after the -night-bell--sometimes called "Lumpenglocke" in Germany--had sounded, -investigate properly if the tavern-keepers really stopped to furnish -the guests with new wine? And was it not the duty of the city fathers -to look after the morals of their subjects and to teach them the -wisdom of the German saying:-- - - "Er hat nicht wol getrunken, der sich übertrinket. - Wie ziemet das biderbem Mann, daz ihm die Zunge hinket?" - -So the sign was in many ways a useful institution topographically, -politically, and morally. Its merits are not yet exhausted: it was a -good weather prophet, too. When the old iron things began to moan and -to squeak, storm and rain surely were not far, as an English rhyme -whimsically says:-- - - "But when the swinging signs your ears offend - With creaking noise, then rainy floods impend." - -How was it possible, then, that such an institution as our amiable -sign, approved and furthered by the State, such a popular, often -artistically charming creation, could have enemies? The first reason, -as we have seen in our chapter on "Religious Signs," was that pious -signs were used by impious innkeepers or that religious themes were -represented in a manner insulting to all religious feeling. No wonder, -if a French landlord called his tavern "Au sermon," and illustrated -the word "sermon" by a deer (_cerf_) and a mountain (_mont_), that the -really pious citizen protested and exclaimed indignantly: "Ne -devrait-on pas condamner à une grosse amende un misérable cabaretier -qui met à son enseigne un cerf et un mont pour faire une ridicule -équivoque à sermon? Ce qui autorise des ivrognes à dire qu'ils vont -tous les jours au sermon ou qu'ils en viennent." - -Surely the really pious signs subsisted beside their frivolous -brothers, as the English doctor-sign of 1623, beautifully carved and -gilded and now a treasure of a collector, proves by its inscription: -"Altissimus creavit de terra medicynam et vir prudens non abhorrebit -illam." Curiously enough, the schoolmaster souls took offense at the -sign's absurd combinations, its lack of "sound literature and good -sense," its impossible orthography and ridiculous mottoes, which, by -the way, were added only later to the pictures. All this was extremely -shocking to these people and many of them thought it a noble life-task -to reform the signs. One of these reformers developed his programme in -one of the oldest English periodicals, "The Spectator," in an April -number of the year 1710, fully aware of attempting an herculean labor. -Combinations, such as "Fox and Goose," he deigns to admit; but what -sense, asks he, in logical indignation, "is in such absurdities as -'Fox and the Seven Stars,' or worse still, in the 'Three Nuns and a -Hare'?" Molière, in "Les Fâcheux," has ridiculed these sign reformers, -a species not unknown in Paris either, in the person of Monsieur -Caritidès, who humbly solicited Louis XIV to invest him with the -position of a General Sign Controller. His petition reads, in -Molière's inimitable French, as follows:-- - - _Sire_: - - Votre très-humble, très-obéissant, très-fidèle et très savant - sujet et serviteur Caritidès, Français de nation, Grec de - profession, ayant considéré les grands et notables abus qui se - commettent aux inscriptions des enseignes des maisons - boutiques, cabarets, jeux de boule et autres lieux de votre - bonne ville de Paris, en ce que certains ignorants, - compositeurs des dites inscriptions, renversent, par une - barbare, pernicieuse et détestable orthographe, toute sorte de - sens et de raison, sans aucun regard d'etymologie, analogie, - énergie ni allégorie quelconque au grand scandale de la - république des lettres et de la nation Française, qui se décrie - et déshonore, par les dits abus et fautes grossières, envers - les étrangers, et notamment envers les Allemands, curieux - lecteurs et inspecteurs des dites inscriptions ... supplie - humblement Votre Majesté de créer, pour le bien de son État et - la gloire de son empire une charge de contrôleur, - intendant-correcteur, réviseur et restaurateur général des - dites inscriptions et d'icelle honorer le suppliant.... - -[Illustration: ZUM SCHLÜSSEL BOZEN.] - -In all impartiality we have to admit that really the sign lost by and -by its usefulness as a street-guide, since the trades and crafts -occupying a house changed often, while the old signs, especially those -which formed a part of its architecture, remained unchanged, thus -producing the most ridiculous contradictions against which the -above-mentioned reformer of "The Spectator" protested not without -reason, saying: "A cook should not live at 'The Boot' nor a shoemaker -at 'The Roasted Pig.'" - -But the most ruthless enemy of the sign became the police itself, who -once protected it. As early as the year 1419 we find an English police -regulation, threatening with a fine of forty pence--in those days -quite a sum--"that no one in future should have a stake bearing either -his sign or leaves, extending or lying over the King's highway, of -greater length than seven feet at most." As every innkeeper tried to -outdo the other by the size and the magnificence of his sign, one -arrived finally at absurdly great constructions which really hampered -the traffic: as in England, where we find wrought-iron signs which, -like arches of triumph, reached from one side of the street to the -other. A precious old book, "A Vademecum for Malt-Worms" (British -Museum), in a quaint woodcut, "The Dog in Shoreditch," gives us a -picture of such a sign monument. To the artist's eyes they were -charming things, combining happily great lanterns with the sign into a -harmony which we so often find lacking in modern days, where beautiful -old signs through the addition of ugly modern lamps lose all their -artistic charm of yore. - -[Illustration: ·THE·DOG·IN·SHOREDITCH·] - -Mercier's "Tableau de Paris" tells us of ridiculously great signs: -spurs as large as a wheel, gloves big enough to house a three-year-old -babe, and the like. In old Germany, too, the sight of the giant signs, -as Victor Hugo describes them from Frankfurt-on-the-Main, must have -been fantastic enough. "Under the titanic weight of these sign -monuments caryatides are bowed down in all positions of rage, pain, -and fatigue." Some of them carry an impudent bronze negro in a gilded -tin mantle; others an enormous Roman emperor--a monolith of twenty -feet in height--"dans toute la pompe du costume de Louis XIV avec sa -grande perruque, son ample manteau, son fauteuil, son estrade, sa -crédence où est sa couronne, son dais a pentes découpées et à vastes -draperies." - -Especially objectionable to the police in London were those signs that -reached far out over the street and, shaken by the wind, constituted a -real danger to the passer-by. So the fall of such a huge inn sign in -Fleet Street, London, in 1718, caused the death of two ladies, a court -jeweler, and a cobbler. Similar dangers threatening an innocent public -were vividly set forth in a Parisian police ordinance in 1761, in an -amusing bureaucratic French: "Les enseignes saillantes faisaient -paraître les rues plus étroites et dans les rues commerçantes elles -nuisaient considérablement aux vues des premiers étages, et même a la -clarté des laternes, en occasionnant des ombres préjudiciables à la -sureté publique; elles formaient un péril perpetuellement imminent sur -la tête des passants, tant par l'inattention des propriétaires et des -locataires sur la vétusté des enseignes ou des potences, qui en ont -souvent abattu plusieurs et causé les accidents les plus funestes." - -[Illustration: THE QUEEN·IN EXETER·] - -If the police had contented itself in eliminating the offensive or -really dangerous signs, nobody could have blamed it. Unfortunately it -was much more aggressive, especially in France, the paradise of the -"ronds de cuir," and attempted to cut down every individual or -artistic invention on the part of the signmakers. We are, therefore, -not surprised to find so little in modern France that could remind us -of the old abundance. The officials of the Revolution proved -themselves just as narrow-minded as those of royal times. Both, -animated by the bureaucratic instinct to confine everything to narrow -rules, tried to suppress all individual poetical invention that once -was the charm of the sign. A royal edict of 1763 prescribes a very -uninteresting design as a binding model for all signs, giving at the -same time the exact measurements of the same and warning the public -not to dare to make any changes on the "dessein cy-dessus marqué." It -was a poor consolation for the owners of beautiful old signs that the -same edict granted them the great privilege of giving their -art-treasures in account as old iron--"quinze deniers la livre"--when -paying the bill for the new sign patented by the State. Still more -radically acted the men of the Revolution, who sincerely hated the -signs, with their crowns and heraldry, as abominable "marques du -despotisme." They made short work, and simply ordered: "Toutes les -enseignes qui portent des signes de royalisme, féodalité et de -superstition seront renouvelées et remplacées par des signes -républicains: les enseignes ne seront plus saillantes mais simplement -peintes sur les murs des maisons." - -Another danger for the sign resulted from the attempt to number the -houses of which we hear, perhaps for the first time in France, as -early as 1512. This first attempt failed, but in the enlightened -eighteenth century the new and certainly more reasonable method of -distinguishing a house from its neighbor decidedly gained ground. In -1805 it was made obligatory by the Parisian police. A similar -development we observe in England. Nobody will deny the practical -progress and no business man would like to return to the old times -when an English bookseller, for instance, had to give the address of -his shop in the following way: "Over against the Royal Exchange at the -Sugar Loaf next Temple Bar." In Germany, where the centralization in -large capitals made slower progress and a multitude of small social -and political centers kept their own, the rational institution of -numbering the houses, so necessary in great cities like Paris or -London, was not accepted so quickly. In 1802 Dresden, for instance, -had not even on the street corners signs indicating their names; "an -institution that facilitates topography and topography facilitates -business," remarks a judicious contemporary. Here in Germany the cold -number did not conquer so easily over the poetical warmth of the dear -old sign. In the quiet, imperial towns of the south the artistic sign -of the Rococo period and the Empire style, unpersecuted and -unmolested, keep their place in the sun up to the present day in spite -of some ill-advised landlords who thought it necessary to hide the -humble oxen or lamb in the garret and call their house by some new -pretentious French name like "Hotel de l'Europe" or the like. - -[Illustration: ·Stuttgart·] - -In our own enlightened times of general school education, nobody needs -any more the sign as a guide through even the most modest town. -Everywhere the number has taken its place for this purpose and we -regret to admit for the history of the sign too the truth of Darwin's -words: "Progress in history means the decline of phantasy and the -advance of thought." - - - - -ENVOY AND THE MORAL? - -[Illustration: Sonne Neckarsulm, Württemberg] - - - - -ENVOY AND THE MORAL? - - "I am here in a strange land and have perhaps the seat of honor - at table in this inn; but the man down there on the end has just - as good a right here and there as I, since we are both here only - guests." - - MARTIN LUTHER: Sermons. Jubilate, 1542. - - -It is not very much the fashion in these modern days to ask for the -moral meaning of things, but we are old-fashioned enough to hold with -those who believe that things have not only a soul, but that they give -us a lesson too in revealing their soul to us, "la leçon des choses," -as the French, whom we are inclined to call condescendingly the -immoral French, call it. Old Frederic the Great in his famous -interview with the poet Gellert in Leipzig, after hearing from him one -of his fables "The Painter of Athens," did not fail to ask the -all-important question: "And the Moral?" - -Many a reader who has followed us but hesitatingly into regions that -seemed to him at the beginning of doubtful moral value, will be -perhaps surprised to see us conclude our investigations with this same -question. But I am sure we will do it with good profit, since in doing -so we shall have the chance to hear many a sermon of Doctor Martinus -Luther, whose moral force we children of the twentieth century would -love to dig out of his writings if its gold did not seem to us so -hopelessly buried under the sand of antiquated dogmatical quarrels. - -The tavern sign has its moral lesson for all concerned, guests and -landlords alike. From its modest and unknown creators the modern -artist too may receive many a valuable inspiration. When the poet -Seume, in December, 1801, started from Grimma in Saxony on his long -pilgrimage to Syracuse, his way seems to have led him soon to a -knightly George, who fights the dragon in all Christian lands, over -many a tavern door for centuries and whom Shakespeare celebrated in -the verses:-- - - "St. George that swindg'ed the Dragon, and e'er since - Sits on his horseback at mine hostess' door." - -Looking at the great green beast our romantic pilgrim prayed: "May -heaven grant me honest, friendly landlords and polite guardians at -the city gates from Leipzig to Syracuse!" In those old days when the -gate was dangerously near the tower and its dungeon, it was indeed of -the highest importance to find polite officials at the city gates; -just as we might sometimes pray to-day for polite customs officials, -the successors of the old grumpy watchmen who guarded the city -entrance and wrote the newcomer's name in their big books. Still more -important, too, is it for the modern traveler to find friendly -landlords. They seem as in the old days a gift from heaven, for which -we must pray and which we cannot buy. Truly many travelers seem to -think a full purse buys everything, but they forget the old truth -which Charles Wagner, in his book "La vie simple," has expressed -rightly in the following sentence: "Le travail d'un homme n'est pas -une marchandise au même titre qu'un sac de blé ou un quintal de -charbon. Il entre dans ce travail des éléments qu'on ne peut évaluer -en monnaie." And just these fine elements in the work of a landlord -and his servants which we cannot weigh or pay for make the simplest -inn so homelike and cozy. A good landlord does not need to fear even -Death, who seems to seize only the dishonest one, if we believe the -author of a "Dance of Death" from the fifteenth century in the -Stuttgarter Hofbibliothek. In a few forceful lines the old artist -traces the figure of the bad landlord sitting behind his counter and -trying to win the good favors of the uncanny musician Death, by -offering him a great stein of beer and humbly confessing: "Against God -and against law I sought to win earthly goods, taking money unjustly -from knights and peasants as a robber does. Oh, if I only should not -die now, I could hope to improve and to win grace." - -Many a landlord would gladly follow the example of Abraham if only his -guests would try to learn a little from the angels. But how often come -to him such wild fellows who claim every good thing he has in cellar -and kitchen, and when it comes to pay take French leave. - -It is well known that, as the old Bible saying goes, the sun is -shining over good and bad, over just and unjust, but Luther thought he -does not do it gladly. Perhaps the Doctor, who knew so many roads from -his own experience, even thought of the golden tavern sun when he -said: "The sun would prefer that all the bad fellows should get not a -single little gleam from him and it is a great grief and cross to him -that he must shine over them, wherefore he sighs and moans." - -[Illustration: ZUR SONNE WINNENDEN] - -Nobody has admonished us so heartily as Doctor Martinus to hold -ourselves as pious guests in this inn of Life, to live honestly and -decently in it as it becomes a guest. "If you wish to be a guest, be -peaceful and behave yourself as a Christian; otherwise they will soon -show you the way to the tower." It is characteristic for Luther to -remind the unruly guest of the tower, i.e., the prison. In other -connections too he readily refers to Master John the Hangman who is to -his mind a very useful, nay, even charitable man. - -Since we did not hesitate to threaten the landlord with the ghastly -musician of the "Dance of Death," it will seem only fair to remind the -guests of the tower, which in the old days was used as prison for the -peace-breakers. Luther, like all good Germans, was not a -prohibitionist; he recognized "a drink in honor," "einen Trunk in -Ehren," but he was a fierce enemy of all "drunkards and loafers" who -lie in taverns Sunday and week-day and pour the beer down their -throats as cows gulp water, saying: "What do I care about God, what do -I care about death? You miserable hog, you shall get what you are -striving for, you shall die too and be swallowed up by the mouth of -Hell." To every decent landlord such guests are a curse. To chase them -from his threshold the owner of the "George and Dragon" in Great -Budworth (Cheshire) invented the fine rhyme which should stand over -every tavern door:-- - - "As St. George in armed array - Did the fiery dragon slay, - So may'st thou, with might no less, - Slay that dragon drunkenness." - -A decent behavior surely, but no melancholy teetotalism, such is -Luther's standpoint. "Those have not been of the devil who drank a -little more as their thirst required and became joyful."--"It is not -the fault of the eating and drinking, that some people degrade -themselves to swine." Just as dancing in itself is no sin: "Why not -admit an honorable dance at a marriage feast? Go and dance! The little -children dance too without sin; do the same and be like a child whose -soul is not injured by dancing." - -The whole world appears to Luther like an inn in a strange town, in -which the pilgrim lies. In his nightly dreams he does not think of -becoming a citizen or a major of this town, his thoughts wander away -through the gate to the far city where his home is. - -To the pretentious traveler his description of "Christ's Inn," which -reminds us of our Swiss sign, "Hie zum Christkindli," might serve as -a little lesson in modesty. Thus he speaks about it in a Christmas -sermon: "Look, how the two parents in a strange land in a strange city -search in vain for good and hospitable friends. Even in the inns was -no room, since the city at that time was so crowded. In a cow-stable -they had to go and make the best of it as poor poor people! There was -no couch, no linnen, no cushions, no feather-beds; on a bundle of -straw they made their bed as close neighbours of the good cattle. -There in a hard winter-night the noble blessed fruit was born, the -dear child Jesus." And in another Christmas sermon he says: "If you -look at it with cow's or swine's eyes it was a miserable birth ... but -if you open your spiritual eyes you will see countless thousands of -angels, filling the heaven with their song and honouring not only the -child but the manger too in which it lies." - -Everything depends finally upon the way we look at it, if with cows' -eyes or with spiritual eyes. Only these will enable us to see in the -poorest inn the angel of hospitality covering us at night with gentle -wings. Till finally Mother Earth shall cover us softly in our last -quiet "Deversorium" in which we have at least the hangman's comfort: -"You shall be called to no more payments, fear no more tavern bills -which are often the sadness of parting as the procuring of mirth." - -But we must not end without delivering a little sermon to the signs, -too, that still glitter in the warm sunshine. To them, cocks, deer, -bears, oxen, and horses, a church-tower cock, celebrated by the -humorous clergyman poet Möricke of Schwabenland, gives this solemn -warning:-- - - "You poor old iron things, - Why should you be so vain? - Who knows how many springs - You will up there remain?" - - - - -Bibliography - - -1. Petit dictionnaire critique et anecdotique des enseignes de Paris -par un batteur de pavé 1826, in Balzac's _Oeuvres complètes_, -tome XXI. 1879. - -2. E. DE QUERIÈRE. Recherches historiques sur les enseignes, in -the _Magazin pittoresque_, 1850-60. - -3. BLAVIGNAC. Histoire des enseignes d'hôtelleries, d'auberges -et de cabarets. Genève, 1879. - -4. L. REUTTER. Les enseignes d'auberges du canton de Neuchâtel, -avec notices par A. Bachelin. 1886. Neuchâtel. - -5. MICHEL-FOURNIER. Histoire des Hôtelleries. Paris, 1851. - -6. JOHN GRAND-CARTERET. L'enseigne, son histoire, sa philosophie, -ses particularités à Lyon. Grenoble, 1902. - -7. Journal du Voyage de MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE en Italie par -la Suisse et l'Allemagne en 1580 et 1581. Rome, 1775. - -8. TRISTAN LECLÈRE. Les Enseignes, in the _Revue Universelle_, -1905. - -9. P. FROMAGEOT. Les Hôtelleries, cafés et cabarets de l'ancien -Versailles. 1907. - -10. EMILE CHATELAIN. Notes sur quelques tavernes fréquentées -par l'université de Paris au XIV et XV siècles. Paris, 1898. - -11. E. L. CHAMBOIS. Le Vieux Mans, les Hôtelleries et leurs -enseignes. Le Mans. 1904. - -12. JACOB LARWOOD _and_ JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN. The History -of Signboards. First edition. London, 1866. - -13. CHARLES HINDLEY. Tavern Anecdotes and Sayings. London, -1881. - -14. GEO. T. BURROWS. Some Old English Inns. New York. -Frederick A. Stokes & Co. - -15. GEO. T. BURROWS. Old Inns of England, in the _Estate -Magazine_, May, 1905. - -16. P. H. DITCHFIELD. English Villages. - -17. P. H. DITCHFIELD. The Charm of the English Village. - -18. E. G. DAWBER. Old English Signs in _The Art Journal_, -1897. - -19. T. B. COOPER. The Old Inns and Inn Signs of York. -1897. - -20. F. G. HILTON PRICE. The Signs of Old Lombard Street. -Illustrations by James West. London. Field and Tuer. - -21. WILFRED MARK WEBB. Signs that Survive, in the _English -Illustrated Magazine_. September, 1900. - -22. JULIAN KING COLFORD. The Romance of the Signs of Old -London, in the _Magazine of Commerce_. July-December, 1903. - -23. F. CORNMAN. Some Old London Shop Signs. 3 series, -1891-94, printed only in 30 to 40 copies (Guildhall-Library: -Gal. M. 1. 5. 4°). - -24. A GUIDE FOR MALT WORMS, a second of a Vademecum for -Malt Worms or a Guide to Good-Fellows. London. Illustrated -with proper cuts. (British Museum: C-39-b. 19.) - -25. De Uithangteekens in verband met Geschiedenis in Volksleven -beschouwd door Mr. I. VAN LENNEP en I. TER GOUW. First edition, -1868. New edition, Leiden, 1888. - -26. OVERBECK. Pompeii. - -27. H. JORDAN. Über römische Aushängeschilder, in the _Archæologische -Zeitung_, 1872. - -28. HOMEYER. Deutsche Haus-und Hofmarken. - -29. FRIEDRICH HAAS. Entwickelung der Posten vom Altertum bis -zur Neuzeit. Berlin, 1895. - -30. BENNO RÜTTENAUER. Schwäbische Wirtshauschilder, in _Die -Rheinlande_, November, 1903. - -31. LEO VON NOORT. Deutsche Wirtshauschilder. _Woche_, June, -1909. - -32. A. BRUDER. Die Wirtshäuser des Mittelalters. Innsbruck, -1885. - -33. TH. VON LIEBENAU. Gasthofswesen in der Schweiz. 1891. - -34. HANS BARTH, Osteria. Kulturgeschichtlicher Führer. durch -Italiens Schenken. Verlag Julius Hoffmann. Stuttgart. - -35. FRITZ ENDELL. Wirtshauschilder. Über Land und Meer, -1910. (39.) - -36. CHARLES FEGDAL. Les vieilles enseignes de Paris. 3. édition. -Paris, 1914. - -37. ÉDOUARD FOURNIER. Histoire des enseignes de Paris, 1884. - -38. STEPHEN JENKINS. The Old Boston Post Road. New York, -1913. - -39. WEITENKAMPF. Lo, The Wooden Indian. (The art of making -cigar-shop signs. Sculptors in wood who began by making -the figureheads of ships.) _New York Times_, August 3, -1890. - -40. WEITENKAMPF. Some Signs and Others. _New York Times_, -July 3, 1892. - - * * * * * - - C'est bien disné, quand on s'échappe - Sans débourser pas un denier, - Et dire adieu au tavernier - En torchant son nez dans sa nappe. - - FRANÇOIS VILLON. - - - - - Index - - - Abbot's inn, 62. - - Absalom, 159. - - Adam and Eve, 5, 7, 138. - - Ad maurum, 38. - - Ad Mercurium et Apollinem, 39. - - Admiral Vernon, 207. - - Ad rotam, 37 (_illus._). - - Affenwagen, 91 (_illus._). - - A l'enseigne de la belle étoile, 165. - - A l'enseigne de la lune, 165. - - A l'enseigne du pavillon des singes, 169. - - A l'image du Christ, 71. - - A l'image de Notre Dame, 151. - - Alla spada, 80. - - A man loaded with mischief, 155. - - American signs, 151, 199 _f._, 213. - - Anchor, 84, 85, 117. - - Âne rayé, l', 92. - - Angel, 7, 11 (_illus._), 12 _ff._, 81, 124. - - Annunciation, 12. - - Apollo, 38, 203, 213. - - Ark of Noah, 89. - - Asne rouge, 173. - - Ass in the bandbox, 210. - - Auberge de la mule, 89. - - Auerbach's Keller, 85. - - Au grand monarque, 189. - - Au grand vainqueur, 195. - - Au juste prix, 257. - - Au lit on dort, 257. - - Au paradis des dames, 7. - - Au perroquet vert, 97. - - Au sermon, 266. - - Au temps perdu, 256. - - Au vase d'or, 123. - - Aux deux Pierrots, 151. - - Aux trois lapins, 227 (_illus._). - - Axe, 85. - - - Bacchus, 152, 203. - - Bag of nails, 255. - - Bakers' signs, 86, 134, 135 (_illus._), 241. - - Barking dogs, 158. - - Bear, 36, 44, 72, 120, 185, 211, 251. - - Bear and Billet, 240. - - Beehive, 98. - - Bee's Wing, 248. - - Bell, 73, 117, 138, 247 _f._ - - Bell and candlestick, 249. - - Bell and lion, 249. - - Belle sauvage, 249. - - Blue bear, 263. - - Blue boar, 115 (_illus._), 239. - - Blue cap, 248. - - Boar's head, 115 _f._ - - Bock, 228. - - Bonaparte, 151, 207 _f._, 210. - - Boot, 85, 269. - - Bowman tavern, 114. - - Bras d'or, 199. - - Bratwurstglöckle, 185. - - Brutus, 196. - - Bull, 86, 164. - - Bull and bell, 86. - - Bull and magpie, 86. - - Bull and mouth, 241. - - Bull and stirrup, 86. - - Buona moglie, la, 69. - - Butcher sign (_illus._), 197. - - - Cabaret du petit père noire, 178. - - Cadran bleu, 214. - - Cage, 73, 97. - - Camel, 44. - - Canone d'oro, 80. - - Capello, 117. - - Castor and Pollux, 203. - - Cat and fiddle, 204, 255. - - Cat and wheel, 204. - - Cavallo bianco, 45, 174. - - Cave des morts, la, 160. - - Centaur, 107, 119. - - Chaste Suzanne, la, 152. - - Chat noir, 150, 175. - - Chat qui dort (_illus._), 89. - - Cheshire Cheese, 180 _ff._ - - Chessboard, 33, 139. - - Cheval blanc, 151, 174. - - Cicero, 207. - - Cigogne, 90. - - Club signs, 243. - - Cochon mitré, 204. - - Cock, 34, 90, 162, 180, 183, 184 (_illus._), 190. - - Cock and bell, 249. - - Cock and bottle, 241. - - Cock and crown, 215. - - Cockpit, 104. - - Couronne civile, 194. - - Cradle, 99. - - Crocodile, 92. - - Croix de Lorraine, 175. - - Cromwell, 206. - - Cross, 82, 99, 185, 205, 257. - - Cross Keys, 104. - - Crown, 18, 72, 86, 120, 122, 124, 191 (_illus._), 192, 211 _f._ - - Cursus publicus, 40. - - Curtain, 104. - - Czar's head, 206. - - - Death and the doctor, 160. - - Deux torches, 177. - - Devil, 182. - - Diable, 176. - - Diana, 38. - - Dog, 89, 214, 246. - - Dog and duck, 250. - - Dog and pot (_illus._), 214. - - Dog in Shoreditch (_illus._), 270. - - Dolphin, 203, 241. - - Donkey, 210. - - Dove, 90. - - Dragon, 93. - - Dromedary, 91. - - Drudenfuss, 32. - - - Eagle, 35, 41, 82, 117, 120, 169, 232. - - Eagle and child (_illus._), 100. - - Eisenhut, 79. - - Elephant, 34, 35, 45, 113. - - Elephant and castle (_illus._), 7. - - Epée de bois, 177. - - Erasmus of Rotterdam, 206. - - - Falcon, 104, 105 (_illus._), 242. - - Falstaff, 242. - - Federal punch, 213. - - Femme sans tête, 67, 69. - - Feuerkugel, 229. - - Fighting cocks, 249. - - Fish, 84. - - Flags, 36. - - Fleur de lys, 82. - - Flying Dutchman, 248. - - Flying horse, 108. - - Fontaine de jouvence, la, 152. - - Fortune, 104, 203. - - Four alls, 255. - - Four swans, 240. - - Fox, 94, 246. - - Fox and goose, 267. - - Fox and hounds, 252. - - Fox and the seven stars, 267. - - Frederic the Great, 206. - - - Garter, 112. - - Géant, le, 94. - - George, 54, 62, 63, 108, 280. - - George and dragon, 164, 286 (_illus._). - - German hospitality, 21 _f._ - - German War-poster, 162. - - Giraffe, 93. - - Globe, 164. - - Goat, 163. - - Goat and compasses, 256. - - God begot house, 54. - - God encompasses us, 256. - - Golden bear, 229. - - Golden cannon, 45. - - Golden cross, 205. - - Golden eagle, 208. - - Golden head, 176. - - Golden lamb, 263. - - Golden lion, 103, 170, 226, 227. - - Golden louse, 233. - - Golden tiger, 112. - - Goldene Brunnen, 228. - - Goldene Wage, 226. - - Good eating, 73, 139. - - Good man, 70. - - Good Samaritan, 154. - - Good woman, 67, 68. - - Governor Hancock, 200. - - Grand Hercule, le, 94. - - Gray donkey, 210. - - Greek signs, 44. - - Green monkeys, 90 _f._ - - Grosser Engel, 226. - - Guild-houses, 137. - - Gustavus Adolphus, 206. - - - Habsburger Hof, 111. - - Half-Moon, 87, 88, 112, 136. - - Half-Moon and punchbowl, 213. - - Hand and cock, 254. - - Hand of hospitality, 19 _f._ - - Haubert, le, 80. - - Hell, 45, 72. - - Helmet, 78 _f._ - - Hercules, 9, 38, 94, 203, 244. - - High Lily, 53. - - Horse, 246 _f._ - - Hospice of the Great St. Bernard, 50. - - Hospital of St. Cross, 53. - - Hôtel de l'Arquebuse, 114. - - Hôtel de l'Empereur, 211. - - Hôtel de l'Europe, 276. - - Hôtel Victoria, 232. - - Huron, 151, 204. - - - In angelo, 13. - - In der Roskam, 136. - - In duobus angelis, 13. - - Indian signs, 204. - - Iron helmet, 78 _f._ - - - Jonge Stier, 154. - - - Kaiserhof, 111. - - Kaiser Joseph, 210. - - Knights of St. John, 51 _ff._ - - Knights Templars, 51 _f._ - - Kölner Hof, 111. - - Königin von England, 232. - - Korn's Hotel, 220. - - Krug, 135. - - - Labor in vain, 256. - - Lamb, 85, 99, 137. - - Leopard, 111. - - Linde, 81. - - Lion, 83, 185, 186 (_illus._). - - Little and great sleeper, 94. - - Living signs, 97. - - Logger-Heads, 159. - - Lubbar's Head, 111. - - - Mayde's Hede, 109. - - Mercury, 38. - - Mermaid, 93, 178. - - Minerva, 203. - - Mirabilia Romæ, 53. - - Mitre, 182. - - Mol's Coffee House, 81. - - Moon, 87. - - Moor, 38. - - Mortar, 173. - - Mort qui trompe, la, 27, 160. - - Mouton blanc, 176 _f._ - - Mule, 89, 173. - - Mutter Grün, 165. - - - New Inn, 110, 239. - - - Oak, 211. - - Ochse, 232. - - Ostel des singes, l', 90. - - Osteria del penello, 46. - - Ours qui pile, 173. - - - Pack-Horse, 246 (_illus._). - - Paon blanc, 96. - - Paradise, 7, 72. - - Parrot and punchbowl, 213. - - Peacock, 96, 103. - - Pegasus, 108, 203. - - Pentacle, 230. - - Pentagram, 32 _f._, 230. - - Pestle, 173. - - Pheasant, 96. - - Phenix, 104, 107, 203. - - Pig and carrot, 255. - - Pig and whistle, 254 _f._ - - Pilgrim inns, 51, 63. - - Pitcher, 134, 136. - - Plat d'argent, 73. - - Plat d'estein, 173. - - Pomegranate, 107. - - Pomme de pin, 174 _f._ - - Poor men's inns, 51, 61. - - Post, 221. - - Publishers' signs, 243 _f._ - - Punchbowl, 212. - - Purgatory, 72. - - - Quatre nations, 170. - - Quattuor sorores, 27. - - - Rathskeller, 84. - - Raven, 222. - - Red bull, 104. - - Red cock, 232. - - Red horse, 103. - - Red lion, 106, 109, 239. - - Rembrandt, 206. - - Rémouleur (_illus._), 152, 153. - - Renard dansant devant une poule, 95. - - Rheinischer Hof, 111. - - Ritter, 62. - - Roasted pig, 269. - - Roi mort, le, 196. - - Roman eagle, 41. - - Roman post-system, 40. - - Römischer Kaiser, 228, 271. - - Rose, 104, 121 (_illus._), 212, 228. - - Rowing barge, 164 (_illus._), 125. - - Royal oak, 211, 263. - - Running horses, 247. - - Ruysdael, 206. - - - Sagittary, 113, 203. - - Sainte Opportune, 171. - - Salutation, 72, 158, 205, 245. - - Samaritaine, 244. - - Saracen's Head, 263. - - St. Barbara, 73. - - St. Catherine and wheel, 204. - - St. Christopher, 60 _f._ - - St. Dominic, 66. - - St. Fiacre, 70. - - St. George, 62 _ff._, 65. - - St. Martin, 65 _f._ - - St. Urban, 66. - - Schiller, 206. - - Schoolmaster sign, 131, 147. - - Seelhäuser, 51. - - Ship, 84. - - Ship and punchbowl, 213. - - Shoemaker sign, 241. - - Silent woman, 68. - - Siren, 93, 203. - - Six reines, 93. - - Soleil d'or, 152. - - Speaking signs, 135 _f._ - - Spread eagle, 117. - - Star, 72, 86, 87, 140, 185, 225. - - Star and garter, 113. - - Stella maris, 86. - - Stork, 36, 90. - - Striped donkey, 92. - - Sugar Loaf, 275. - - Sun, 38, 39, 86 _f._, 138, 284 (_illus._). - - Surgeon's sign, 147 _f._ - - Swan, 95, 229, 239. - - Swan and horse shoe, 215. - - Sword, 80. - - - Tabard, 80, 237. - - Tavern, 29. - - Temps gagné, le, 256. - - Tessera hospitalis, 19. - - Tête noire, 176. - - Three angels, 13. - - Three crowns, 220. - - Three jolly sailors, 85. - - Three Kings, 185, 192 _f._, 210. - - Three Madonnas, 46. - - Three Moors, 193 _f._ - - Three nuns and a hare, 267. - - Three squirrels, 262 (_illus._). - - Tiger, 103, 111. - - Tres tabernæ, 29. - - Trinité, 71. - - Trois ponts d'or, 177. - - - Unicorne, 83, 93. - - Union Hotel, 199. - - - Vertumnus and Pomona, 150. - - - Washington, 200. - - We are three, 159. - - Wellington, 206. - - We three asses, 159. - - White hart, 201, 246, 251. - - White horse, 45, 82, 174, 257. - - Wild man, 203. - - Wo der Fuchs den Enten predigt, 95. - - Wooden Indian, 151. - - Wool pack, 247. - - Wreath, 17 _f._, 30, 32, 134, 136. - - - Zebra, 92. - - Zu den Slaraffen, 94. - - Zum Anker, 85. - - Zum Engel, 226. - - Zum Geiste, 90, 229. - - Zum guldin Schooffe, 86. - - Zum Kameeltier, 92. - - Zum Kindli, 71 (_illus._), 287. - - Zum Ochsen, 133. - - Zum Ritter, 63. - - Zum Rössle, 83 (_illus._). - - Zum Rohraff, 91. - - Zum Rosenkrantz, 194. - - Zum wilden Mann, 38 (_illus._). - - Zur Linde, 122. - - Zur Schlange, 136. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TAVERN SIGNS*** - - -******* This file should be named 41869-8.txt or 41869-8.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/1/8/6/41869 - - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p> -<p>Title: Old Tavern Signs</p> -<p> An Excursion in the History of Hospitality</p> -<p>Author: Fritz August Gottfried Endell</p> -<p>Release Date: January 18, 2013 [eBook #41869]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TAVERN SIGNS***</p> <p> </p> -<h4>E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Matthew Wheaton,<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (<a href="http://archive.org">http://archive.org</a>)</h4> <p> </p> <table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> <tr> @@ -6882,360 +6865,6 @@ July 3, 1892.</li> <p> </p> <p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TAVERN SIGNS***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 41869-h.txt or 41869-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/1/8/6/41869">http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/8/6/41869</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed.</p> - -<p> -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - - - - -Title: Old Tavern Signs - An Excursion in the History of Hospitality - - -Author: Fritz August Gottfried Endell - - - -Release Date: January 18, 2013 [eBook #41869] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TAVERN SIGNS*** - - -E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Matthew Wheaton, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by Internet Archive (http://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 41869-h.htm or 41869-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41869/41869-h/41869-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41869/41869-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - http://archive.org/details/oldtavernsignsex00enderich - - - - - -OLD TAVERN SIGNS - - -[Illustration: Old Dutch Signs From a Painting by Gerrit and - Job Berkheyden] - - -OLD TAVERN SIGNS - -An Excursion in the History of Hospitality - -by - -FRITZ ENDELL - -With Illustrations by the Author - - - - - - - -Published by Houghton Mifflin Company -Printed at The Riverside Press Cambridge -Mdccccxvi - -Copyright, 1916, by Houghton Mifflin Company -All Rights Reserved - -Published November 1916 - -THIS EDITION, PRINTED AT THE RIVERSIDE -PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, CONSISTS OF FIVE HUNDRED -AND FIFTY NUMBERED COPIES, OF -WHICH FIVE HUNDRED ARE FOR SALE. THIS -IS NUMBER 5 - - - - -Preface - - - For a sign! as indeed man, with his singular imaginative - faculties, can do little or nothing without signs. - CARLYLE - -The author's love of the subject is his only apology for his bold -undertaking. First it was the filigree quality and the beauty of the -delicate tracery of the wrought-iron signs in the picturesque villages -of southern Germany that attracted his attention; then their deep -symbolic significance exerted its influence more and more over his -mind, and tempted him at last to follow their history back until he -could discover its multifarious relations to the thought and feeling -of earlier generations. - -For the shaping of the English text the author is greatly indebted to -his American friends Mr. D. S. Muzzey, Mr. Emil Heinrich Richter, and -Mr. Carleton Noyes. - - - - - Contents - - - I. HOSPITALITY AND ITS TOKENS 1 - II. ANCIENT TAVERN SIGNS 23 - III. ECCLESIASTICAL HOSPITALITY AND ITS SIGNS 47 - IV. SECULAR HOSPITALITY: KNIGHTLY AND POPULAR SIGNS 75 - V. TRAVELING WITH SHAKESPEARE AND MONTAIGNE 101 - VI. TAVERN SIGNS IN ART--ESPECIALLY IN PICTURES BY THE DUTCH - MASTERS 127 - VII. ARTISTS AS SIGN-PAINTERS 141 - VIII. THE SIGN IN POETRY 167 - IX. POLITICAL SIGNS 187 - X. TRAVELING WITH GOETHE AND FREDERICK THE GREAT 217 - XI. THE ENGLISH SIGN AND ITS PECULIARITIES 235 - XII. THE ENEMIES OF THE SIGN AND ITS END 259 - ENVOY: AND THE MORAL? 277 - BIBLIOGRAPHY 291 - INDEX 297 - - - - - Illustrations - - - OLD DUTCH SIGNS _Frontispiece_ - _From a painting by Gerrit and Job Berkheyden_ - - ZUM SCHIFF, IN STUTTGART _Title-Page_ - - ZUM OCHSEN, IN BIETIGHEIM, WUERTTEMBERG vi - - THE COCK, IN FLEET STREET, LONDON 2 - - ADAM AND EVE 5 - _From an engraving by Hogarth_ - - ELEFANT AND CASTLE, LONDON 7 - _From an old woodcut_ - - ENGEL, IN MURRHARDT, WUERTTEMBERG 11 - - ZUM GOLDNEN ANKER IN BESIGHEIM, WUERTTEMBERG 20 - - ENGEL, IN WINNENDEN, WUERTTEMBERG 24 - - ZUM RAD, IN RAVENSBURG, WUERTTEMBERG 37 - - ZUM WILDEN MANN, IN ESSLINGEN, WUERTTEMBERG 38 - - ROMAN TAVERN SIGN FROM ISERNIA, ITALY 43 - - CAMPANA AND CANONE D'ORO, IN BORGO SAN DALMAZZO, ITALY 44 - - LAMM, IN ERLENBACH, WUERTTEMBERG 48 - - ZUM RITTER, IN DEGERLOCH, WUERTTEMBERG 65 - - THE GOOD WOMAN, OLD ENGLISH SIGN 67 - - HIE ZUM KINDLI, IN THE COLLECTION OF THE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY - IN ZURICH 71 - - ADLER, IN LEONBERG, WUERTTEMBERG 76 - - ZUM ROESSLE, IN BOZEN, AUSTRIA 83 - - LE CHAT QUI DORT, MUSEE CARNAVALET, PARIS 89 - - AFFENWAGEN, OLD SWISS SIGN 91 - - EAGLE AND CHILD, GUILDHALL MUSEUM, LONDON 100 - - KRONE, IN LEONBERG, WUERTTEMBERG 102 - - THE FALCON, IN CHESTER, ENGLAND 105 - - THE OLD BLUE BOAR, IN LINCOLN, ENGLAND 115 - - ROSE, IN MURRHARDT, WUERTTEMBERG 121 - - THE ROWING BARGE, IN WALLINGFORD, ENGLAND 125 - - THE TRUMPETER BEFORE A TAVERN 128 - _From a painting by Du Jardin in Amsterdam_ - - A BAKER'S SIGN IN BORGO SAN DALMAZZO, ITALY 135 - - THE HALF-MOON 136 - _From a painting by Teniers in London_ - - ZUR POST, IN LEONBERG, WUERTTEMBERG 137 - - A SIGN-PAINTER 142 - _From an engraving by Hogarth_ - - ENSEIGNE DU REMOULEUR, PARIS 153 - - THE GOAT, IN KENSINGTON, LONDON 163 - - ZUM GOLDNEN HIRSCH, IN LEONBERG, WUERTTEMBERG 168 - - TRATTORIA DEL GALLO, IN TENDA, ITALY 184 - - ZUM LOEWEN, IN BIETIGHEIM, WUERTTEMBERG 186 - - THE KING OF WUERTTEMBERG, IN STUTTGART 188 - - ZUR KRONE, IN DEGERLOCH, WUERTTEMBERG 191 - - BUTCHER SIGN IN OBERSTENFELD, WUERTTEMBERG 197 - - THE DOG AND POT, IN LONDON 214 - - ZUR POST, IN BIETIGHEIM, WUERTTEMBERG 218 - - AUX TROIS LAPINS, OLD PARISIAN SIGN 227 - - LAMB AND FLAG, IN EAST BATH, ENGLAND 236 - - THE SWAN, IN WELLS, ENGLAND 238 - - FOUR SWANS, IN WALTHAM CROSS, ENGLAND 240 - - SALUTATION INN, IN MANGOTSFIELD, ENGLAND 244 - _A club sign from the museum in Taunton, England_ - - THE PACK-HORSE, IN CHIPPENHAM, ENGLAND 246 - - ZUM HIRSCHEN, IN WINNENDEN, WUERTTEMBERG 253 - - CAVALLO BIANCO, IN BORGO SAN DALMAZZO, ITALY 260 - - THREE SQUIRRELS, IN LONDON 262 - - ZUR GLOCKE, IN WINNENDEN, WUERTTEMBERG 264 - - ZUM SCHLUESSEL, IN BOZEN, AUSTRIA 267 - - THE DOG IN SHOREDITCH 270 - _From a woodcut in "A Vademecum for Malt-Worms," in the - British Museum_ - - THE QUEEN, IN EXETER, ENGLAND 272 - - ZUM STORCHEN, A MODERN SIGN IN BIETIGHEIM 274 - - ZUR TRAUBE, IN STUTTGART, KOLBSTRASSE 14 276 - - SONNE, IN NECKARSULM, WUERTTEMBERG 278 - - AN OLD LANDLORD 281 - _From the "Schachbuch," Luebeck, 1489_ - - DEATH AND THE LANDLORD 283 - _From a Dance of Death printed in the Fifteenth Century, - now in the Court Library in Stuttgart_ - - ZUR SONNE IN WINNENDEN, WUERTTEMBERG 284 - - THE GEORGE AND DRAGON, IN WARGRAVE, ENGLAND 286 - - ZUM POSTGARTEN, IN MUENCHEN, BAVARIA 289 - - _The Cover-Design is from the sign of the "Goldene Sonne" - in Leonberg, Wuerttemberg_ - - - - -Old Tavern Signs - - - - -CHAPTER I - -HOSPITALITY AND ITS TOKENS - -[Illustration: THE COCK FLEET-STREET LONDON] - - - - -Old Tavern Signs - - - - -CHAPTER I - -HOSPITALITY AND ITS TOKENS - - "Und es ist vorteilhaft, den Genius - Bewirten: giebst du ihm ein Gastgeschenk, - So laesst er dir ein schoeneres zurueck. - Die Staette, die ein guter Mensch betrat, - Ist eingeweiht...." - - GOETHE. - - "To house a genius is a privilege; - How fine so e'er a gift thou givest him, - He leaves a finer one behind for thee. - The spot is hallowed where a good man treads." - -Without a question, the first journey that ever mortals made on this -round earth was the unwilling flight of Adam and Eve from the Garden -of Eden out into an empty world. Many of us who condemn this world as -a vale of tears would gladly make the return journey into Paradise, -picturing in bright colors the road that our first parents trod in -bitterness and woe. Happy in a Paradise in which all the beauties of -the first creation were spread before their eyes, where no enemies -lurked, and where even the wild beasts were faithful companions, Adam -and Eve could not, with the least semblance of reason, plead as an -excuse for traveling that constraint which springs from man's inward -unrest striving for the perfect haven of peace beyond the vicissitudes -of his lot. - -And as Adam and Eve went out, weak and friendless, into a strange -world, so it was long before their poor descendants dared to leave -their sheltering homes and fare forth into unknown and distant parts. -Still, the bitter trials which the earliest travelers had to bear -implanted in their hearts the seeds of a valor which has won the -praise of all the spiritual leaders of men, from the Old Testament -worthies, with their injunction "to care for the stranger within the -gates," to the divine words of the Nazarene: "I was a stranger, and ye -took me in.... Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto -one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." - -Our first parents, naturally, could not enjoy the blessings of -hospitality. And still, in later ages, they have not infrequently been -depicted on signs which hosts have hung out to proclaim a hospitality -not gratuitous but hearty. So in one of Hogarth's drawings, of the -year 1750, "The March of the Guards towards Scotland," which the -artist himself later etched, and dedicated to Frederick the Great, we -see Adam and Eve figuring on a tavern sign. No visitor to London -should fail to see this work of the English painter-satirist. One may -see a copy of it, with other distinguished pictures, in the large hall -of a foundling asylum established in 1739, especially for the merciful -purpose of caring for illegitimate children in the cruel early years -of their life. This hall, which is filled with valuable mementos of -great men, like Haendel, is open to visitors after church services on -Sundays. And we would advise the tourist who is not dismayed by the -thought of an hour's sermon to attend the service. If he finds it -difficult to follow the preacher in his theological flights, he has -but to sit quiet and raise his eyes to the gallery, where a circlet of -fresh child faces surrounds the stately heads of the precentor and the -organist. At the end of the service let him not forget to glance into -the dining-hall, where all the little folks are seated at the long -fairy tables, with a clear green leaf of lettuce in each tiny plate, -and each rosy face buried in a mug of gleaming milk. This picture will -be dearer to him in memory than many a canvas of noted masters in the -National Gallery. - -The present-day tourist who takes the bus out Finchley Road to hunt -up the old sign will be as sorely disappointed as if he expected to -find the "Angel" shield in Islington or the quaint "Elephant and -Castle" sign in South London. Almost all the old London signs have -vanished out of the streets, and only a few of them have taken refuge -in the dark sub-basement of the Guildhall Museum, where they lead a -right pitiable existence, dreaming of the better days when they hung -glistening in the happy sunshine. There were "Adam and Eve" taverns in -London, in "Little Britain," and in Kensington High Street. In other -countries, France and Switzerland, for example, they were called -"Paradise" signs. A last feeble echo of the old Paradise sign lingers -in the inscription over a fashion shop in modern Paris, "Au Paradis -des Dames," the woman's paradise, in which are sold, it must be said, -only articles for which Eve in Paradise had no use. - -[Illustration: ELEFANT.AND.CASTLE.LONDON.] - -Gavarni, who spoke the bitter phrase, "Partout Dieu n'est et n'a ete -que l'enseigne d'une boutique," made bold in one of his lithographs of -"Scenes de la vie intime" (1837) to inscribe over the gates of -Paradise, from which the "tenants" were flying: "Au pommier sans -pareil." Schiller tells us that the world loves to smirch shining -things and bring down the lofty to the dust. This need not deter us -from reading in the old Paradise signs a reminder of the journey of -our first parents, and to enjoy thankfully the blessings of ordered -hospitality to-day. - -Until this ordered hospitality prevailed, however, many centuries had -to elapse, and for the long interval every man who ventured out into -the hostile wilderness resembled Carlyle's traveler, "overtaken by -Night and its tempests and rain deluges, but refusing to pause; who is -wetted to the bone, and does not care further for rain. A traveler -grown familiar with howling solitudes, aware that the storm winds do -not pity, that Darkness is the dead earth's shadow." Only the strong -and bold could dare to defy wild nature, especially when there was -need to cross desolate places, inhospitable mountains like the Alps. -So the ancients celebrated Hercules as a hero, because he was the -pioneer who made a road through their rough mountain world. - -A still longer time had to elapse ere the traveler could rejoice in -the beauties of nature which surrounded him. The civilizing work of -insuring safe highways had to be done before what Macaulay names "the -sense of the wilder beauties of nature" could be developed. "It was -not till roads had been cut out of the rocks, till bridges had been -flung over the courses of the rivulets, till inns had succeeded to -dens of robbers ... that strangers could be enchanted by the blue -dimples of the lakes and by the rainbow which overhung the waterfalls, -and could derive a solemn pleasure even from the clouds and tempests -which lowered on the mountain-tops." - -No wonder, then, that the literature of olden times, when traveling -was so dangerous an occupation, is filled with admonitions to -hospitality. The finest example of it, perhaps, is preserved in the -Bible story of the visit of the angels to Abraham, and later to Lot. -This story deserves to be read again and again as the typical account -of hospitality. As is the custom to speak in the most modest terms of -a meal to which one invites a guest, calling it "a bite" or "a cup of -tea," so Abraham spoke to the angels, "I will fetch a morsel of bread, -and comfort ye your hearts." Then Abraham told his wife to bake a -great loaf, while he himself went out to kill a fatted calf and bring -butter and milk. In like fashion Lot extends his hospitality, -providing the strangers with water to refresh their tired feet, and in -the night even risking his life against the attacking Sodomites, to -protect the guests who have come for shelter beneath his roof. - -The feeling that a guest might be a divine messenger, nay, even Deity -itself, continued into the New Testament times, as St. Paul's advice -to the Hebrews shows: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for -thereby some have entertained angels unawares." And did not the -disciples, too, at times, receive their Master as a guest in their -homes, the Son of Man, the Son of God? William Allen Knight has dwelt -on this thought very beautifully in his little book called "Peter in -the Firelight": "The people of Capernaum slept that night with -glowings of peace lighting their dreams. But in no house where loved -ones freed from pain were sleeping was there gladness like in Simon's; -for the Master himself was sleeping there." - -[Illustration: Murrhardt] - -A later type of legend pictures the angels, not as guests, but as -benefactors, preparing a wonderful meal for starving monks who in -their charity have given away all their possessions to the poor, and -have no bread to eat. The tourist, walking through the seemingly -endless galleries of the Louvre, will pause a moment before the -beautiful canvas on which Murillo has depicted this story. The French -call it "la cuisine des anges." It is a historical fact that many -cloisters were reduced to poverty in the Middle Ages on account of -their generous almsgiving. Not all of them could lay claim to the holy -Diego of Murillo's painting, who could pray with such perfect trust in -Him who feeds the sparrows that angels came down from heaven into the -cloister kitchen to prepare the meal. The widespread popularity of -these Biblical stories and holy legends need cause no wonder that the -angel was a favorite subject for tavern signs in the Middle Ages, and -that even at this day he takes so many an old inn under the patronage -of his benevolent wings. It has been asserted that the angel sign -originated in the age of the Reformation, simply by leaving out the -figure of the Virgin Mary from the portrayal of the scene of the -Annunciation. But against this theory stands the fact that there were -simple angel signs in the Middle Ages as well as Annunciation signs. -We learn that the students of Paris in the year 1380 assembled for -their revels in the tavern "in angelo." The records of these same -Parisian students tell us how they lingered over their cups in the -tavern "in duobus angelis," in the year of grace 1449. - -We may remark here in passing that the linen drapers' guild in London -had as its escutcheon the three angels of Abraham. One need only to -recall the full, flowing garments of Botticelli's angels to understand -in what great respect the linen merchant would hold the angels as good -customers of the drapery trade. - -An angel in beggar's form brought St. Julian the good news of the -pardon of the sins of his youth. In a wild fit of anger the headstrong -young Julian had killed his parents. As atonement for his dreadful -crime he had done penance and built a refuge in which for many long -years he freely cared for all travelers who came his way. At last the -angel's reward of hospitality was vouchsafed to him, and in memory of -his good works tavern-keepers chose him as their patron saint. - -The stern Consistory of Geneva had evidently forgotten all these -beautiful legends and their deep symbolical meaning, when in the year -1647 it forbade a tavern-keeper to hang out an angel sign, "ce qui est -non accoutume en cette ville et scandaleux." Perhaps the grave city -fathers of Geneva remembered their by-gone student days in Paris, and -the handsome angel hostess in the city on the Seine, where a -contemporary of Louis XIV celebrated in song:-- - - "Un ange que j'idolatre - A cause du bon vin qu'il a." - -The most attractive angel tavern that the author has met in his -travels is in the quiet little English town of Grantham, although he -has to confess, in the words of the German song:-- - - "Es giebt so manche Strasse, da nimmer ich marschiert, - Es giebt so manchen Wein, den ich nimmer noch probiert." - -It was a sharp autumn day. The wind that whistled about the lofty -cathedral of Lincoln had searched us to the marrow, and we were well -content after our ride from the station to find a kindly welcome at -the "Angel." The facade of the dignified tavern, which once belonged -to the Knights' Templars, and which saw the royal guests, King John -in 1213, and King Richard III in 1483, entertained within its walls, -is one of the most splendid architectural monuments that we saw in -England. As everywhere in this garden-land, the ivy winds its green -arms around the stiffer forms of the English Gothic, which often lack -the warm picturesqueness of architectural detail that makes the -wonderful charm of the French and the South German Gothic. - -Over the lintel of the door of the tavern the sculptured angel shone -resplendent in his golden glory. A charming little balcony rested on -his wings and his hands held out a crown of hospitable welcome to -royal and common guests alike. All these winged messengers of -hospitality seem to say in the words of the Old Testament: "The -stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among -you, and thou shalt love him as thyself: for ye were strangers in the -land of Egypt." - -The bitter experience of their own distress in a strange land planted -in the hearts of the Israelitish people a kindly feeling toward the -stranger. For all that, much was permitted in dealing with a stranger -which was forbidden in the case of a brother Israelite. The stranger -might be made to pay interest, and it was no infraction of the Mosaic -Law to make him and his children men-servants and maidservants. - -While, then, the law of the exclusive Jews accorded certain rights to -the stranger which the children of Israel were warned not to impair, -the Graeco-Roman world, on the other hand, recognized no claim of the -stranger. "Il n'y a jamais de droit pour l'etranger," says Fustel de -Coulanges in "La Cite antique." The same word in Latin means -originally both enemy and stranger. "Hostilis facies" in Virgil, means -the face of a stranger. To avoid all chance of encountering the sight -of a stranger while performing his sacred office, the Pontifex -performed the sacrifice with veiled face. In spite of this, the -stranger met with favorable consideration both at Athens and at Rome, -in case he was rich and distinguished. Commercial interests welcomed -his arrival and bestowed on him the "jus commercii"--(the right to -engage in trade). Yet he came wholly within the protection of the -laws only when he chose one of the citizens as his "patron." - -It seems as if it must have been embarrassing in those days to have -shown one's "hostilis facies" in foreign lands and cities in the -course of a journey undertaken for pleasure or to seek the cures at -the bathing resorts. Still we know that the Romans, in their -enthusiasm for this kind of travel, built villas, theaters, temples, -and baths at some of the most celebrated watering-places of modern -days, like Nice and Wiesbaden. - -The stiff and almost hostile attitude of classical antiquity toward -the stranger was relieved by the hospitable custom which made the -stranger almost a member of the family as soon as he had been received -at the family hearth and had partaken of the family meal. This -function was a sacred one among the ancients, for they believed that -the gods were present at their table: "Et mensae credere adesse deos," -says Ovid in the "Fastes." - -At especially festal meals it was the custom to crown the head with -wreaths, as in the case of the public meals, where chosen delegates of -the city, clad in white, met to partake of the food which was the -symbol of their common life of citizenship; or in the case of the -bridal meals, where the maiden, veiled in white, pledged herself -forever to the bridegroom. There was no rich wedding-cake, like those -common in England and America, but a simple loaf, "panis farreus," -which after the common prayer they ate in common "under the eyes of -the family gods." "So," says Plato, "the gods themselves lead the wife -to the home of her husband." - -The custom of wearing a crown at solemn feasts was founded on the -ancient belief that it was well pleasing to the gods. "If thou -performest thy sacrifice [and the meal was a sacrifice] without the -wreath upon thy head, the gods will turn from thee," says a fragment -from Sappho. The sense of the nearness of the gods at mealtime and the -beautiful old custom of pouring out a bit of wine for the invisible -holy guest, were preserved down to the time of the later Romans. We -find the custom in vogue with such old sinners as Horace and Juvenal. -We shall recall the significance of the wreath as a symbol when we -meet the ivy wreath later as a tavern sign. - -But even in classical antiquity the exercise of free hospitality -demanded certain tokens to preserve it from abuse at the hands of -fraudulent strangers. For example, the so-called "tessera hospitalis," -a tiny object in the shape of a ram's head or a fish, was split in -halves and shared by each party to the agreement of hospitality. By -presenting his half of the "tessera" the stranger could always prove -his identity and his claims to a hospitable reception by the family to -which he came. - -Other tokens were small ivory or metal hands carved with appropriate -inscriptions. The latter were also sometimes exchanged on the -negotiation of treaties between nations. In the medallion cabinet at -Paris there is one of these treaty-hands in bronze, commemorating a -treaty between the Gallic tribe of the Velavii and a Greek -colony--probably Marseilles. This hand of hospitality, like the -wreath, was a frequent motive in the development of the tavern sign. -In fact, it was so frequent in the German lands that the people were -accustomed to call the tavern, in figurative speech, the "place where -the good God stretched out his hands." If we recall the deep symbolic -meaning of such signs, we shall not find this naive expression of the -people shocking, like the Puritan Consistory at Geneva, whose -narrow-minded prohibition of the angel sign we have already noticed. - -[Illustration: BESIGHEIM] - -Now, before passing to the study of the origins of entertainment for -pay, with its signs (which were really the first tavern signs) let us -turn back to the old Germans, to note their idea of hospitality. The -German fathers, too, tell in a beautiful story of the reception of a -divine guest in the cottage of a mortal, and of a reward like that -which Abraham had for his spirit of friendly aid. In one of the -religious songs of the "Edda," which probably originated in the -North-Scottish islands, we read how the god Heimdall, in the disguise -of a humble traveler, visited the hut of an aged couple, and was -honorably received by them:-- - - "Then Edda brought forward a loaf of graham bread, - Firm, thick and full of hulls; - And more, too, she brought to the table, - And set thereon the bowl of soup." - RIGSPULA, 4. - -In the sayings of Hars (i.e., of Odin) the Lofty, the rule of -hospitality is stated:-- - - "Hail to the Givers! a guest enters. - Say where he shall sit. - He cannot stay long - Who must seek his living in the chase on snowshoes. - - * * * * * - - He who comes from afar needs fire, - For his knees are stiff with the cold. - He who has crossed the mountain cliffs, - Needs food and clothing sore. - Water and welcoming greeting he needs - And the towel to dry him from the bath." - -So even the old Germans had felt the blessings of hospitality, and -received the angel's reward. An old poet expressed it in a simple -phrase:-- - - "A bit of bread, and the offer of the cup - Won me a noble friend." - - - - -CHAPTER II - -ANCIENT TAVERN SIGNS - -[Illustration: Engel Winnenden, Wuerttemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -ANCIENT TAVERN SIGNS - - - "La bourse du voyageur, cette bourse precieuse, contient tout - pour lui, puisque la sainte hospitalite n'est plus la pour le - recevoir au seuil des maisons avec son doux sourire et sa - cordialite auguste." - - VICTOR HUGO (_Le Rhin_). - -We must now take leave of "holy hospitality" which is written in the -hearts of men and truly needs no outward sign, and must follow Iago's -counsel: "Put money in thy purse!" For our journey is no longer from -friend to friend, but from host to host and from sign to sign. Regret -it as we may, a hospitality for profit's sake had to succeed the old -free hospitality of friends. The widening commerce of the Roman -world-empire could hardly have existed without a well-regulated -business of entertainment along those magnificent roads by which the -empire was bound together. The traveler was more and more unlikely, -with every extension of the area of his far journeyings, to find -houses to which he was bound by the friendly ties of genuine -hospitality; while he who remained quietly by his own fireside ("qui -sedet post fornacem") would find the constantly increasing duties of -the voluntary host growing to be so great a burden that he would be -relieved to see the establishment of public inns. Indeed, he may -himself, at first, have sought relief by charging his guests a nominal -sum to defray their expense. At any rate, it would be very difficult -to fix an exact line between these two forms of entertainment, which -existed side by side for long ages of antiquity. Certain it is that at -some moment, we know not just when, there appeared the Pompeian -inscription over the tavern door: "Hospitium hic locatur." -(Hospitality for hire.) That was the birth-hour of the tavern sign. - -We cannot hide the fact that the beginnings of business hospitality -were of a very unedifying character, under the plague of Mammon. In -Jewish and Gentile society alike they must have been closely akin to -that kind of hospitality against whose smooth speech and Egyptian -luxury the wise old Solomon warned foolish youth in his Proverbs. -Witness the identical word in Hebrew to denote a courtesan and a -tavern hostess; witness Plato's exclusion of the tavern-keeper from -his ideal republic; witness the reluctance of the respectable Greek -and Roman to enter a tavern. In the Berlin collection of antiques -there is a stone relief which has been pronounced an old Roman tavern -sign. On it the "Quattuor sorores," or four sisters, are represented -as frivolous women. And there are charges entered on old Roman tavern -bills which could not possibly appear on a hotel bill to-day. Both the -rich and the poor were imbued with the spirit of Horace's words:-- - - "Pereant qui crastina curant, - Mors aurem vellens: Vivite, ait, venio." - - (Dismiss care for the morrow, - Death tweaks us by the ear and says, Drink, for I come.) - -This spirit reveals itself in a dance of death, which decorated the -beautiful silver tankards found in Boscoreale, a Pompeian suburb. And -so we must not be surprised to see later, during the Middle Ages, even -on tavern signs the grim figure of Death; as for example, on the -French tavern, "La Mort qui trompe." - -The magnificent frescoes of the rich in Pompeian art show us a -palatial feasting-hall with the inscription, "Facite vobis suaviter" -(Enjoy your life here); and at the same time the tavern guests for a -few pennies woo the philosophy of "carpe diem"--the careless -abandonment to pleasure that knows no concern for the morrow. Another -inscription found in Pompeii makes the tavern Hebe say: "For an as -[penny] I give you good wine; for a double as, still better wine; for -four ases, the famed Falerian wine of song." To be sure, the wine was -often pretty bad in these greasy inns--Horace's "uncta popina." One -guest relieved his mind of his complaint by writing on the chamber -wall: "O mine host, you sell the doctored wine, but the undiluted you -drink yourself." On the same wall, which seems to have served as a -kind of "guest-book" ("libro dei forestieri") are the names of many -guests, one of whom complains in touching phrase that he is sleeping -far away from his beloved wife for whom he yearns: "urbanam suam -desiderabat." - -In spite of the contempt which ancient writers all manifest for these -wine-shops and inns, we remark that men of the senatorial order, like -Cicero, did not scorn at times to stop for a few hours on their -summer journey at some country inn like the "Three Taverns," in the -neighborhood of Rome, to call for a letter or to write one. This was -the same "Tres Tabernae" to which the Roman Christians went out to meet -the Apostle Paul, to welcome him with brotherly greetings after the -trials of his Christian Odyssey. We read in the Acts of the Apostles -how great his joy was when he saw them, and how "he thanked God and -took courage." He had no need, however, of the tavern. The hospitality -of Christian fraternity, which he had praised so beautifully in his -message to the Roman community, now received him with open arms. - -The very name "tavern," which in its Latin original means a small -wooden house built of "tabulae," or blocks, indicates the very modest -origins of professional hospitality. And we must distinguish, in the -olden times as in the Middle Ages, between hospitality proper, which -takes the guest in overnight, and the mere charity which refreshes him -with food and drink and sends him on his way. - -The original sign of the tavern-keeper is the wreath of ivy with -which Bacchus and his companions are crowned, and which twines around -the Bacchante's thyrsos staff. As the ivy is evergreen, so is Bacchus -ever young ("juvenis semper"), Shakespeare's "eternal boy." As the ivy -winds its closely clinging vine around all things, so Bacchus enmeshes -the senses of men. Thus the custom grew of crowning the wine-jars with -ivy, a custom which Matthias Claudius, in his famous Rhine wine song, -has described thus:-- - - "Crown with ivy the good full jars - And drink them to the lees. - In all of Europe, my jolly tars, - You'll find no wines like these." - -Now, whether a good wine really needed the recommendation of the -wreath was a question on which experts were not agreed. In general, -the ancients leaned to the opinion that "good wine needs no -bush"--"Vino vendibili suspensa hedera non opus est." The French later -expressed the same idea in their proverb, "A bon vin point -d'enseigne"; though La Fontaine seems to have been of a different mind -when he said, "L'enseigne fait la chalandise." And Shakespeare enters -the controversy in his epilogue to "As You Like It," when he makes -Rosalind say, "If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 'tis true -that a good play needs no epilogue." An English humorist, George -Greenfield of Henfield (whoever he may be), is fully of the opinion -that there is no need of the bush: "No, certainly not," says he; "all -that is wanted is a corkscrew and a clean glass or two." - -It is perfectly natural that gloomy and distrustful natures like -Schopenhauer's should have no confidence in the sign. He uses the word -"sign" always as a synonym for deceit. He calls academic chairs -"tavern signs of wisdom"; and illuminations, bands, processions, -cheers, and the like, "tavern signs of joy"--"whereas real joy is -generally absent, having declined to attend the feast." Wieland shows -the same mistrust in his verses of Amadis:-- - - "The finest looks prove only for the soul - What gilded signs prove for the tavern-bowl." - -On the other hand, happy optimistic natures like Fischart's, the -author of the famous "Ship of Fools" ("Narrenschiff"), and perhaps of -its jolly woodcuts as well, give full credence to a handsome sign. -"How shall you think," says he, "that poor wine can go with so brave a -sign displayed, or that so neat an inn can harbor a slovenly host or -guest?" - -We can see what an important business the making of wreaths was in -ancient times by the place which the Amorettes, who were engaged in -this work, had in the favorite Pompeian wall frescoes, which portray -Cupids in varied activities. We look into the workshop where a small -winged figure is working industrially twining garlands; or into the -sale-shop where a tiny Psyche is asking the price of a wreath. The -winged saleslady answers her in the finger language which the Italians -still use: "Since it is you, pretty maiden, only two ases." - -A very favorite tavern sign in the later times also dates from high -antiquity, namely, the pentagram, triangles intersecting so as to make -this figure [* hexagram symbol]. The Pythagoreans held this as a -talisman of health and protection. The Northern myths called the sign -a footprint of a swan-footed animal. They called it the "Drudenfuss," -and thought it would protect men against evil spirits like the -"Trude," a female devil-nixie which harassed sleepers. We see the sign -in the study-scene in the first part of "Faust"; and remark how evil -spirits and the devil himself could slip into human habitations if the -pentagram before the door was not fully closed at the apexes--but had -a hard time getting out again. The elfish verses are well known:-- - - "_Mephistopheles_: I must confess it! just a little thing - Prevents my getting out beyond the threshold: That is the - Drudenfuss before the door. - - "_Faust_: Ah, then the pentagram is in thy way! So tell me - then, abandoned son of Hell, If that can stop thee how thou - camest in; Can such a spirit be so tricked and caught! - - "_Mephistopheles_: Look closely! It is badly drawn: one angle, - The one that's pointing outward, is not closed. - - "_Faust_: Ah, that's a lucky fall of fortune then; It makes - thee willy-nilly captive here." - -Besides wreath and pentagram, we find among the ancients a third -customary sign of hospitality, namely, a chessboard, which invited the -passer-by to a game of draughts along with a draught of wine. The game -was not chess, for that came to Europe from the East in the -post-classical age. Hogarth's engraving "Beerstreet" shows us that -this sign prevailed in old England, for the characteristic signpost in -front of the tavern door is painted in black and white checkered -squares. - -Painted and carved animal images also served as signs in Roman times. -We have a few examples left, and the names of a great many more. In -Pompeii there was a little inn called the "Elephant," in which one -could rent a dining-room with three couches and all modern comforts -("cum commodis omnibus"). The sign represents an elephant, around -whose body a serpent is entwined, and to whose defense a dwarf is -running. It was an animal scene on an old sign that inspired Phaedron -with his fable of the battle of the rats and the weasels; so the -author tells us at the opening of his poem: "Historia quorum et in -tabernis pingitur." Perhaps the host of the "Elephant" had an ancestor -in the African wars, and in his honor chose the African animal as a -sign; just as the host of the "Cock," in the Roman Forum, hung out for -a sign a Cimbric shield captured in the old wars against Germania. On -the shield he had painted a stately rooster with the inscription: -"Imago galli in scuto Cimbrico picta." The choice of the elephant, -however, might be due simply to the preference which tavern-keepers -showed for strange and wonderful beasts. For the traveler would first -stop and stare at the queer animal, and then, like as not, turn in at -the door, half expecting that the wily host might be harboring the -very beast in real life. There was a grand elephant sign on a -Strassburg tavern, which invited to a hospitable table the young -students of the town, especially the law students--among them a young -man named Goethe. The elephant stood erect on his hind legs, and the -toast of the students was: "a l'eleve en droit" (a l'elephant droit). - -Among other figures of animals on Roman signs the eagle was a great -favorite. The Romans bore the eagle on their standards, after having -long accorded the honor to the she-wolf, the minotaur, and the wild -boar. The Corinthians likewise carried a Pegasus, and the Athenians an -owl, on their banners. The sign was closely related to the banner: it -was a kind of rigid flag. We shall see later, in the Dutch pictures, -how, at the jolly kermess, flag and shield together invited the -peasant to drink and dance. In mediaeval France the tavern hosts hung -out flags on which the sign was painted or woven in colors. The French -word "enseigne" means originally a flag: "Le signe militaire sous -lequel se rangent les soldats," as the classic definition in Diderot's -famous _Encyclopedie_ runs. A secondary definition is: "Le petit -tableau pendu a une boutique." - -The Romans seldom had signs that hung free, such as the Cimbric shield -described above. Generally their signs were paintings or reliefs on a -wall. There were in the shops of Pompeii depressions in the wall made -especially to receive these signs. So, too, the so-called "dealbator" -whitewashed a place on the wall for the election bulletins. Sometimes -the painter used wood or glass as the ground for his sign. - -We find all the Roman animal signs--storks, bears, dragons, as well as -the eagle, the cock, and the elephant--in the later Christian ages. It -is not impossible that the eagle signs of later days are the direct -descendants of the old Roman eagle; and they probably existed in most -of the old towns founded by the Romans--Mayence, Speyer, Worms, -Basel, Constance. The names that have come down to us are chiefly of -taverns in the African colonies. Here we find, curiously enough, the -wheel ("ad rotam"), the symbol of St. Catherine, which we shall meet -later in Christian lands; for example, in a picturesque sign in the -old town of Ravensburg in Wuerttemberg. - -[Illustration: Zumwilden Mann Esslingen] - -In Spain we find the Moor ("ad Maurum") who kept his popularity for -centuries. In Sardinia, Hercules, the pattern of the later hero with -the "big stick," as he appears in the German sign at Esslingen. Some -of the inns had names of heathen divinities, like Diana, or Mercury, -the god of commerce, or Apollo, whose emblem the sun shed its inviting -rays from so many a tavern portal in fair and foul weather alike. A -tavern in Lyons was named "Ad Mercurium et Apollinem": "Mercurius hic -lucrum permittit, Apollo salutem" ("Here Mercury dispenses prosperity, -and Apollo health"). It is possible that these taverns had gods as -signs, just as in the Middle Ages the streets abounded in images of -the Madonna and saints, which invited the traveler to turn in for -profit or pleasure. Tertullian tells us that there was not a public -bath or tavern without its image of a god: "balnea et stabula sine -idolo non sunt." After the victory of Christianity the images of the -gods were cheap: tavern-keepers could buy them for a few obols. We can -little doubt that among this "rubbish" was many a precious work of art -which the museums of to-day would be proud to own. - -It would be hard to say whether an unbroken tradition connects the -signs of the Middle Ages with those of like name in classical -antiquity. Many a sign may have been invented anew. But that we have -learned much directly from the old Romans in the field of hospitality -is proved by a curious fact. The Bavarian Knoedel, which every true -Bajuware claims as an indigenous, national institution, are prepared -to-day exactly like the old Roman "globuli," after the recipes of -Columella and Varro. Such, at least, is the assurance of Herr von -Liebenau in his interesting book on Swiss hospitality. - -We remarked above that it was by their roads especially that the -Romans extended their power over all the world. We must notice now -briefly the Roman post-system, the "cursus publicus," whose coaches -probably carried travelers from tavern to tavern like the modern -mail-coaches. We must, however, curb the imagination of the reader -with a reminder that practically only the state officials used this -service. Not every country bumpkin could mount with market-basket on -his arm, to make a jolly journey over hill and dale to the sound of -the echoing horn. Still the Emperor or his prefect could issue -tickets to private persons; and furthermore, these persons could, -under certain circumstances, get a sort of Cook's ticket, called -"diploma tractoria," which included board and lodging as well as -transportation. If the journey lay through a lonely region, where -there were no private taverns to provide shelter for the night, the -traveler might put up at the state inn ("mansio") which the province -was obliged to maintain at public cost, with all the necessities and -comforts to which respectable Roman travelers were accustomed. One can -well understand how, as the empire disintegrated, the provincials were -glad to throw off this hated compulsory tax for the support of the -state inn. It was not till the time of Charlemagne that the -institution was revived as a military-feudal service along the routes -of the imperial army. Whether these Roman state inns displayed signs -or not, we do not know. It is, however, very likely that they were -distinguished by the sign of the Roman eagle, and so became the type -of the later private eagle inns. - -Here let us remark that the post-coaches of our own day, which seem to -us an institution dating from the Deluge, are a comparatively late -invention. The first so-called "land-coach" in Germany was established -between Ulm and Heidelberg in the year 1683. Through all the Middle -Ages and the Renaissance period, we depended on mounted messengers, -traveling cloister brothers, university students, and rare travelers -to carry messages. In Wuerttemberg, where we find to-day the most -abundant reminders of the good old post-coach days, and consequently -the finest old signs, bands of "noble post-boys" are found, including -the distinguished names of Trotha and Hutten. - -That the common workman, even in the Roman days, had to use "shank's -mare" when he went traveling goes without saying. But the well-to-do -burgher or trader who had no license to ride in the state post-coach -rode on his horse or his high mule. Horse and saddle remained for -centuries the only method of travel after the Roman roads had fallen -into that state of dilapidation from which they fully recovered only -in the days of Napoleon. One needs only to look at the coaches of -princes in past centuries to see for what bottomless mud-bogs these -lumbering vehicles were built. Montaigne rode on horseback from his -home in Bordeaux to the baths of southern France and Italy, although -he seems, from the entries in his diary, to have been very much -afflicted with "distempers." - -A late Roman relief found in Isernia (in Samnium)--a kind of tavern -sign--shows us a traveler holding his mule by the bridle as he takes -leave of the hostess and pays his account. The traveler has on his -cloak and hood. The hood, even up to Seume's time (i.e., up to the end -of the eighteenth century), was generally worn by travelers in Italy, -and especially in Sicily: "My mule-driver showed a tender solicitude -for me," wrote Seume, "and gave me his hood. He could not understand -how I dared to travel without one. This peculiar kind of dark-brown -mantle with its pointed headgear is the standard dress in all Italy, -and especially in Sicily. I took a great fancy to it, and if I may -judge from this night's experience, I have a great inclination toward -Capuchin vows, for I slept very well." - -[Illustration: ROMAN.TAVERN.SIGN.FROM.ISERNIA] - -We have had to confine ourselves in the treatment of ancient signs -entirely to Roman examples, for we have very little knowledge of Greek -signs. In fact, the tavern sign seems to have come late into Greece, -through Roman influence. We hear of a tavern "The Camel" at the -Piraeus, also of a sailors' inn having the sign in relief: a boiled -calf's head and four calf's feet. - -We shall later see what an important part signs played in directing -travelers in a city through the Middle Ages and even in modern times. -They took the place of house numbers and street names. In ancient Rome -a whole quarter was often named after an inn, like the "Bear in the -Cap" ("vicus ursi pileati"). This is the longest-lived bear in -history: he lives even to-day. An excellent German tavern guide, Hans -Barth, writes in his delightful little book "Osteria": "On the quay of -the Tiber was the famous old inn of the Bear, where Charlemagne -lodged, because the Cafarelli Palace was not yet built; where Father -Dante frolicked with the pussy-cats; where Master Rabelais raised -his famous bumpers of wine." In Montaigne's time the Bear was so -frightfully stylish an inn, with its rooms hung with gilded leather, -that the essayist stayed there only two days and then forthwith sought -a private lodging. - -[Illustration: Campana and Canone d'Oro Borgo San Dalmazzo, Italy] - -In modern Italy there are only a few interesting signs. The most -delightful ones (the Golden Cannon, and the Bell) we found in the main -street of the North Italian mountain town of Borgo San Dalmazzo. The -"White Horse" ("cavallo bianco") was a little off the main street. The -form of these was probably influenced by the proximity of -Switzerland--a country very rich in beautiful signs. - -Seume, who had the finest opportunity for studying taverns and signs -in his walking tour from Leipzig to Syracuse, often mentions the name -of his inn; as, for instance, "Hell" in Imola, or the "Elephant" in -Catania. But there was only one Italian town in which the signs -impressed him: that was Lodi. "The people of Lodi," he writes, "must -be very imaginative if one can judge them from their signs. One of -them, over a shoemaker's shop, represents a Genius taking a man's -measure--a motif which reminds one of Pompeii." - -Our excellent guide, who has an eye for everything picturesque, does -not seem to have met much of interest from Verona to Capri. An -exception was the "Osteria del Penello," in Florence, on the Piazza -San Martino, a tavern established about the year 1500 by Albertinelli, -the friend of Raphael. On the sign over the door was the jolly curly -head of the founder, who, when the envy of his colleagues poisoned the -work of his brush, here established a tavern. An inscription read: -"Once I painted flesh and blood, and earned only contempt; now I give -flesh and blood, and all men praise my good wine." - -Barth also mentions, by the way, the characteristic wall-paintings of -Italy that rest on the old Roman tradition and yet serve as tavern -signs, like the "Three Madonnas" of the Porta Pincia in Rome: "A -portal decorated with three pictures of the Mother of God leads into -the green garden court." - -Lest the thought of a religious painting serving as a tavern sign -should shock any of our readers, we hasten to turn to the study of -religious hospitality and its emblems. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -ECCLESIASTICAL HOSPITALITY AND ITS SIGNS - -[Illustration: Lamm Erlenbach, Wuerttemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -ECCLESIASTICAL HOSPITALITY AND ITS SIGNS - - "Use hospitality one to another without grudging." - - I Peter IV, 9. - - -Rome was to conquer the northern Germanic world once more, not with -the sword as had been the case in the olden days of a pagan Rome, but -with the cross and its exponent, the monk. The northward surging -wave of Roman Caesarism had been followed by the tidal wave, -southward-roaring, of Germanic barbarians. The orderly life of one -vast empire gave way to the restlessness and insecurity of the period -of migration and a shattered empire. Not individuals but whole peoples -go a-traveling with household goods and wife and children, whole towns -and countries become their inns, the standard of the conquerors are -their tavern signs. Then again flowing northward, progressing by -insensible stages, comes the silent throng of monastic brotherhoods, -the Benedictines in the van, who bring forth various orders from -their midst, the Cistercians among others, who dig and reclaim the -soil with their spades and later, as builders, dedicate it to their -God, unknown and now revealed, with high-soaring monuments of worship. - -Undaunted by solitude, fearless of the wildness of desolate regions, -they enter the forest primeval to clear it and establish quiet -homesteads for themselves and their worship; their doors are open to -all those who pass their way. For had not St. Benedict, mindful of -repeated apostolic admonitions to the bishops, included hospitality in -the rules of his order? Therefore ere long there lacked not in any -convent certain rooms given over to the comfort of the wayfarer, be it -a "hospitium," a "hospitale," or a "receptaculum." Witness the Hospice -of the Great St. Bernard in the Alps of the Vallais, named after the -pious founder of that earliest of Occidental orders, part of the -convent erected in the ninth century by the bishops of Lausanne, while -the shelter on Mont Cenis is said to date back to a past equally -remote. Beginning with the year 1000, convents likewise erect inns in -the villages, outside of their immediate domains, leasing these -against rental, while in the towns pilgrim inns, poor men's taverns, -and "Seelhaeuser" are endowed for the free housing of pilgrims and -wayfarers, evolving later into town inns. - -To the pilgrim, then, who wended his way to the tombs of saints, and, -in the crusade times, to the holiest of graves in Jerusalem, mediaeval -hospitality is mainly devoted. The crusaders were agents of especial -power in the development of hospitality, since on his lengthy journey -the pilgrim stood in need, not only of food and shelter, but also of -convoy along roads perilous everywhere. The Knights of St. John set -themselves these two tasks, to care for the pilgrims and escort them -in safety, which is implied by their name "fratres hospitales S. -Johannis." In the rule of their order (ca. 1118) the foremost duty of -lay as well as clerical brothers was to serve the poor, "our lords." -With like intent of safeguarding pilgrims the Order of Knights -Templars was instituted in 1119, especially for the care of German -pilgrims. We may venture to assume from their name, "Order of the -German House of our dear Lady in Jerusalem," that a homelike Madonna -picture adorned their hospitable house as a pious welcome. Shakespeare -has inimitably described the warlike duties of these orders, duties -which went hand in hand with kindly care and hospitality, in the first -part of "Henry IV":-- - - "To chase these pagans, in those holy fields - Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet - Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nailed - For our advantage, on the bitter cross." - -These knightly orders, whose hospitable roofs originally sheltered the -pious pilgrims bound for Jerusalem, also opened in welcome the gates -of their proud houses at home, which still adorn more than one old -German town. When Luther was summoned to Worms by the Emperor, in -1521, he stayed with the Knights of St. John. Here in this noble inn -he exclaimed to his friends, after the ordeal, with upraised arms, and -face shining with joy: "I am through, I am through." Like an enduring -rock he had stood his ground and had expressed his unalterable will to -be a free Christian in those famous words: "Hier stehe ich, ich kann -nicht anders, Gott helfe mir! Amen." - -In like manner Luther had accepted ecclesiastical hospitality on his -journey Romeward, as a young monk, notably on the part of the Order of -St. Augustine. From the pages of that Baedeker of the fifteenth -century, the "Mirabilia Romae," we can realize how thoroughly a -pilgrimage to Rome was viewed in those days as a pious journey to -hallowed places, relics and tombs of the saints. The work referred to -appeared first as a block-book, with pictures and text both printed -from the same wood block. The youthful monk may well have carried such -an early copy of the "Mirabilia" in his cowl when he entered the holy -precincts of the Eternal City, which revealed itself to his great -disillusionment as an ungodly spot and the seat of Anti-Christ. -Occasionally we also see the great reformer descending at a lay -tavern, such as the famous inn of the High Lily in Erfurt, which -subsequently saw within its walls great warriors like Maurice of -Saxony and Gustavus Adolphus. - -To this day there is in England a hospital founded by the Knights of -St. John, in which every wayfarer can obtain bread and ale upon -request. This is the "Hospital of St. Cross without the walls of -Winchester," as it is called in a document in the British Museum; -ceded by the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem to Richard -Toclive, Bishop of Winchester, in 1185, the bishop raising the number -of poor there entertained from 113 to 213, of whom 200 were to be fed -and 13 fed and clothed. Emerson once made a pilgrimage to the -hospital, claimed and received the victuals, and triumphantly quoted -the incident as a proof of the majestic stabilities of English -institutions. In his wake numberless Americans yearly wend their way -to the Hospital of the Holy Cross, and to the beautiful Minster of -Winchester embedded in verdure. There they lodge either at the -"George," or, more cozily yet, in the ancient "God begot House" of a -type found, perhaps, in England only. - -Another American no less renowned, Mark Twain, the "New Pilgrim," as -he styled himself, has felt on his own physical self the blessings of -clerical hospitality in Palestine, the land of ecclesiastic -foundations, which he celebrates as follows in his "Innocents Abroad": -"I have been educated to enmity toward all that is Catholic, and -sometimes, in consequence of this, I find it much easier to discover -Catholic faults than Catholic merits. But there is one thing I feel no -disposition to overlook, and no disposition to forget: and that is, -the honest gratitude I and all pilgrims owe to the Convent Fathers in -Palestine. Their doors are always open, and there is always a welcome -for any worthy man who comes, whether he comes in rags or clad in -purple.... A pilgrim without money, whether he be a Protestant or a -Catholic, can travel the length and breadth of Palestine, and in the -midst of her desert wastes find wholesome food and a clean bed every -night, in these buildings.... Our party, pilgrims and all, will always -be ready and always willing to touch glasses and drink health, -prosperity, and long life to the Convent Fathers in Palestine." - -We may well believe that private individuals then as now bid for the -patronage of pilgrims. Shakespeare tells us of a case in point, in his -"All's Well that Ends Well" (Act III, Sc. V). Helena appears in -Florence in search of her husband gone to the wars, "clad in the dress -of a pilgrim," and inquires where the palmers lodge. A kindly widow -tells her "at the Franciscans here near the port"; but knows how to -win the fair pilgrim by her words:-- - - "I will conduct you where you shall be lodged - The rather, for, I think, I know your hostess - As ample as myself." - -If, on the other hand, we consider how pilgrims made their long -journey more toilsome yet, as related by Helena herself,-- - - "Barefoot plod I the cold ground upon - With sainted vow my faults to have amended,"-- - -we shall appreciate how gratefully the proffer of the good widow must -have been accepted. The hospitality of the monks was not always -lavish; on the contrary, it proved scant and poor, as Germany's -greatest troubadour, Walter von der Vogelweide, to his sorrow -experienced. Once he turned aside more than four miles from his road -in order to visit the far-famed convent of Tegernsee. The learned -monks, whose library forms to-day one of the treasures of the State -Library in Munich, may have been too deeply engrossed in the -transcription of a classic author, or in elaborate miniature -paintings; at any rate, they did not realize what noble guest sat at -their board and brought him--not the choice vintage which the thirsty -poet expected but simply water:-- - - "Ich schalt sie nicht, doch genade Gott uns beiden, - Ich nahm das Wasser, also nasser - Musst ich von des Moenches Tische scheiden." - -If guests were thus given cause for complaints of their treatment by -the convents, the monks on their side had no less ground for -occasional displeasure at the abuse of their hospitality. Carlyle -cites an instance of this kind in "Past and Present"; the excellent -abbot, Simon of Edmundsbury, had forbidden tournaments within his -domain. In spite of this prohibition twenty-four young nobles arranged -a knightly joust under his very nose, so to speak. Not content with -that, they rode gayly to the convent at its conclusion and demanded -supper and a night's lodging. "Here is modesty," says Carlyle. "Our -Lord Abbot, being instructed of it, orders the Gates to be closed; the -whole party shut in. The morrow was the vigil of the Apostles Peter -and Paul; no out-gate on the morrow. Giving their promise not to -depart without permission, those four-and-twenty young bloods dieted -all that day with the Lord Abbot waiting for trial on the morrow." -And now Carlyle cites his own source the "Jocelini Chronica": But -"after dinner"--mark it, posterity!--"the Lord Abbot retiring into his -Talamus, they all started up, and began carolling and singing; sending -into the Town for wine; drinking and afterwards howling -(ululantes);--totally depriving the Abbot and Convent of their -afternoon's nap; doing all this in derision of the Lord Abbot, and -spending in such fashion the whole day till evening, nor would they -desist at the Lord Abbot's order! Night coming on, they broke the -bolts of the Town-Gates, and went off by violence!" - -Not only had convents to suffer from such exuberant guests; oftener -far they were burdened by those who forgot to depart and continue -their journey. The abbot, Herboldus Gutegotus of Murrhardt, the -convent whose romantic church still ranks among the finest -ecclesiastical monuments in Germany, used to tell such forgetful -guests the following little story: "Do you know why our Lord remained -but three days in his tomb?--Because during that time he was making a -friendly visit to the patriarchs and prophets in Paradise. So in order -not to cause them inconvenience he took timely leave and resurrected -upon the third day." Evidently the refined abbot knew how to veil -politely the old Germanic directness which finds such clear expression -in the "Edda": - - "Go on betimes, loiter not as a guest ever in our abode; - He, though loved, becomes burdensome, who warms himself - too long at hospitable fires." - -In wild and inhospitable countries, the convents long remained, even -till recent times, the only shelters for travelers. Hence, when Henry -VIII of England began to confiscate monastic property on a grand -scale, a significant revolt for their reinstallment flamed up in the -north of England,--the so-called "Pilgrimage of Grace" of the year -1536, which was suppressed with deplorable sternness. The convents -were very popular in those parts because the monks had been the only -physicians and their doors were always open to all wayfarers. - -Chaucer shows us in his "Canterbury Tales" that monks could be -pleasant guests as well as good hosts, for there we read in regard to -the friar: "He knew well the tavernes in every town"; and "What should -he studie and make himself wood?" - -Having thus pictured to ourselves the clerical hospitality of the -Middle Ages, we shall not wonder that, in outward signs for the -designation of the houses as inns, religious subjects and their -pictorial presentation were adopted. - -Among the saints particularly revered by the pious pilgrims St. -Christopher stands foremost, since he had himself experienced so -perilous a journey. In many mediaeval pictures we see him leaning on -his massive staff, carrying the Christ child across a river. The -"Golden Legend" tells us that he was nearly drowned, so heavy was the -burden of this child. "Had I carried the whole world," he says, when -finally reaching the shore, "my burden could have been no heavier"; -whereupon the child of whose identity he was not yet aware: "for a -sign that you have carried on your shoulders not only the world but -the Creator, thrust this staff into the ground near your hut, and -behold, it will blossom and bear fruit." Hence the partiality for huge -pictures of St. Christopher, visible afar, such as we find -occasionally to this day in and upon certain churches; for instance, -the spacious mural paintings in the church of St. Alexander at -Marbach, the birthplace of Schiller, close to the tracks on which the -modern traveler thunders past; or the gigantic sculpture on the south -side of the cathedral in Amiens, or the large fresco in the minster at -Erfurt. They give us a conception of similar presentations on Poor -Men's Inns and ecclesiastical hospices. The belief in the efficacious -protection by the saint, especially from sudden death, is expressed in -the French mediaeval saying: "Qui verra Saint Christophe le matin, rira -le soir." The tenacity of this belief among the people is well -instanced by the fact that the jewelers of so worldly a city as Nice -sell to owners of automobiles little silver plaques, with the picture -of the saint and the inscription, "Regarde St. Christophe et puis -va-t-en rassure." Let us hope, in the interest of the rest of mankind, -that these motorists do not feel too reassured in consequence. - -American readers might be interested to hear that in their own country -a guest-house of St. Christopher gives refuge to the modern fraternity -of tramps, charitably called the "Brother Christophers" by the Friars -of the Atonement, who founded this house at Gray Moor, near the -beautiful residential district of Garrison, in the State of New York. - -Another saint, deservedly in great favor, is St. George, who slew the -dragon, a knightly patron who smooths the traveler's path and makes it -safe by brushing aside all its threatening dangers. Two of the finest -hostelries still existing are named after him: the "Ritter" in -Heidelberg, and the "George," more ancient yet by a century, in the -time-hallowed town of Glastonbury. Two miracles have drawn pilgrims to -the latter place since olden times, the "Holy Thornbush," which had -blossomed forth from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea and bloomed -every Christmas, and the "Holy Well," in the garden of the cloister -school, now deserted, whose waters were to heal the bodily ailments of -the pious pilgrims. The throng of wayfarers to the convent, whose -gigantic abbot's kitchen is eloquent of hospitality on a large scale, -made the establishment of a pilgrim's inn outside the walls -imperative. First they erected the "Abbot's Inn," and when this proved -insufficient--at the end of the fifteenth century--the elegant Gothic -structure was erected, which bears to this day the ensign "Pilgrim's -Inn," but is popularly known as "The George," from a likeness of the -saint which once adorned the handsome bracket so happily wedded to the -architecture of the house. The tourist undaunted by fearsome -reminiscences may ask to be given the choice apartment there, the -so-called "abbot's chamber," where Henry VIII rested on the day when -he ordered the last abbot hung on the town gate. The fine four-poster, -it is true, has been sold to a fancier of antiquities and replaced by -a new canopied bed, but despite this the room retains its mediaeval -appearance. - -About a hundred years later, the delightful Renaissance structure, -"Zum Ritter," was erected in Heidelberg. Originally the house of a -wealthy Frenchman, it was subsequently changed into a hostelry and -took its name from the knight on the peak of the gable. Doubtless no -one has ever sung the praise of this noble building more worthily than -Victor Hugo, who visited Heidelberg in 1838, and passed by the house -of St. George every morning, as he said, "pour faire dejeuner mon -esprit." Jokingly he observes that the Latin inscription (Psalm 127, -I) has protected the inn better than the little iron plate of the -insurance firm. As a matter of fact neither the great conflagration of -1635, during the Thirty Years' War, nor the fires started under Melac -and Marechal de Lorges, in 1689 and 1693, could harm this inn, while -"all the other houses built without the Lord were burnt to the -ground." - -In England the good knight St. George was an especial favorite; even -in the middle of the last century there were in London alone no less -than sixty-six hostelries of that name. Truly, the pious meaning of -old associated with the sign had long been forgotten by hosts and -guests alike, so that as early as the seventeenth century these -mocking lines were penned:-- - - "To save a mayd St. George the Dragon slew-- - A pretty tale, if all is told be true. - Most say there are no dragons, and 'tis said - There was no George; pray God there was a mayd." - -The pictures of the "valiant knight's" mount were often so dubious -that a connoisseur of horses like Field Marshal Moltke, writing from -Koesen, Thuringia, construed it as the picture of a mad dog. On the -other hand, we have such charming conceptions of St. George as the -sign here shown, from the hamlet of Degerloch, delightfully situated -on the heights overlooking Stuttgart, a notable artistic achievement -in wrought iron, interesting, moreover, for the associations of merry -chase linked with the saint in the mind of the country folk. - -[Illustration: Degerloch] - -Among other saints frequently chosen for tavern signs, St. Martin must -be mentioned. At times he appears in like manner as does St. -Christopher; for instance, on the large reliefs decorating the facade -of the minster in Basle: a friend of the needy, dividing his cloak -with his sword, to share it with them; thus the pious saint lives on -in the minds of the people. At the season of the new wine, the 21st of -November, the Church commemorates his name: "A la saint Martin, faut -gouter le vin," is the French saying. - -At the sign of St. Dominic too, whose meaning of religious hospitality -had been utterly perverted in the course of time, stanch topers used -to congregate for joyous orgies. Proudly they called themselves -"Dominican"; and - - "Bons ivrognes et grands fumeurs - Qui ne cessent jamais de boire" - -is their interpretation of such strange affiliation, in a song of the -seventeenth century. - -St. Urban has likewise figured on many a tavern sign. Once upon a time -he took refuge from his pursuers behind a grapevine, and for that -reason he has become a patron saint of vintners and tavern hosts. -"Alas," exclaims the refined Erasmus of Rotterdam, "mine host is not -always as 'urbane' as he should be to justify this patronage." - -[Illustration: THE GOOD WOMAN] - -There is one sign whose religious origin is not self-evident, namely, -the "Femme sans tete." Yet the figure has its origin, no doubt, in -mediaeval representations of saints after decapitation, sometimes shown -with the head in the hands. Whoever has perused the illustrated "Lives -of the Saints" with their many horrible mutilations of the martyrs -depicted in woodcuts, must have realized that their moral influence on -the popular imagination cannot have been of a beneficial nature. Even -great artists did not hesitate to celebrate such awful scenes with the -power of their genius. Among the drawings of Duerer we see the -executioner with his great sword ready to behead St. Catherine. -Nothing so disgusted Goethe in his Italian journey as all the painted -atrocities perpetrated on the martyrs. The most peculiar example of -this form of art is probably that in the Tower of London. It is a set -of horse armor presented, apparently without malice, by Emperor -Maximilian to Henry VIII of England, embellished with the most -gruesome scenes of martyrdom. In the Tower, where so much innocent -blood has flowed, one feels doubly repulsed by such excrescences of -so-called religious art: one is even tempted to accept the popular -conception of these beheaded saints as comforting symbols of -forgetfulness. In fact, the oil merchants chose the "woman without -head" as their sign, as one of the foolish virgins of the parable who -had neglected to provide themselves in good time with the necessary -oil: a warning example to delaying, unwilling customers. - -A coarser interpretation of the figure styles it as the "silent -woman," or as the "good woman," who can no longer do mischief with her -tongue. Moreover, one finds this most gallant of signs--which should -be unmentionable in these days of woman's emancipation--not only in -outspoken Holland, with the words: "Goede vrouw een mannen plaag" but -also in Italy; in Turin, for instance, styled as "La buona moglie." -The most polite people on earth--I do not mean the Chinese, but the -French--have named a street in Paris the "Rue de la Femme sans Tete" -after a tavern of like appellation. Young Gavarni stayed awhile in the -"Auberge de la Femme sans Tete" in Bayonne, as the Goncourts tell us, -and waxed eloquent about the dainty charms of the "vierge du cabaret," -the tavern-keeper's daughter. - -Ben Jonson, who loved to discuss with Shakespeare in the Siren Club -and to "anatomize the times deformity," may have been stimulated to -write his comedy "The Silent Woman" by the tavern sign of that name. -In Jonson's play, a Mr. Morose, an original old fellow, who holds all -noise in detestation, weds a young lady, whose barely audible voice -and scant replies have charmed him. When after the ceremony she -reveals herself a loquacious scold and he gives vent to his -disappointment, she replies with these endearing words: "Why, did you -think you had married a statue, or a motion only? one of the French -puppets, with the eyes turned with a wire? or some innocent out of the -hospital that would stand with her hands thus, and a plaise mouth, -and look upon you?" - -But to comfort the feminists we should speak of a host truly gallant, -who had a great white sign made, with the inscription below, "The Good -Man." To the universal inquiry, "Where is the good man? I can't see -him," he made answer, "Well, you see that is why I have left the blank -space; if only I could find him." - -Since there is a saint for every day of the calendar, we must not be -astonished to find names among those adopted for tavern signs which to -us bear no relation to sanctity; such as St. Fiacre over a drivers' -bar, which seems rather the invention of some wag. - -We must needs realize that all these religious signs have their origin -in a time when popular imagination was mainly filled with the -happenings of the Bible and the legends of the saints; when religion -had not yet grown to be a Sunday occupation of a couple of hours, but -was most intimately interwoven with the life of every day. Hence we -find among subjects for signs not the saints only, whose human errors -and sufferings have riveted a bond between them and the common -people, but also the Deity itself. "La Trinite" was one of the latter -in mediaeval France, as evidenced by this passage in the song of a -pilgrim:-- - - "De la alay plus oultre encore - En un logis d'antiquite - Qui se nomme la Trinite." - -Other pilgrim taverns styled themselves "A l'image du Christ." We also -meet with such inscriptions as "L'Humanite de Jesus Christ, notre -sauveur divin"; the birth of Christ as a child, as in the charming old -Swiss sign "Hie zum Christkindli"; the Madonna and scenes of her life -like the "Annunciation," called Salutation in England. These and many -other signs, such as "Purgatory," "Hell," and "Paradise," which have -been revived in modern Paris on fantastic cabarets, meet our eyes on -tavern signs. An old enumeration of London bars of the seventeenth -century begins with the words:-- - - "There has been great sale and utterance of wine - Besides beer and ale, and ipocras fine - In every country region and nation - Chefely at Billingsgate, at the Salutation...." - -And when the author tires of mentioning them all by name, he concludes -with:-- - - "And many like places that make noses red." - -Finally, we must turn to those signs, not religious at first sight, -which may well have their origin in attributes of the saints. Thus, we -meet in Swiss towns, which have St. Gall as their local patron, with -the sign of the "Bear"; "Crown" and "Star" are the symbols of the -three magi who followed the star to the lowly tavern in Bethlehem; the -"Wheel" reminds us of the martyrdom of St. Catherine; the "Stag" may -be a reminder of the legend of St. Hubert; while the "Bell," once -used by St. Anthony to drive away the demons by its sound, was -fastened on the neck of animals to preserve them from epidemic -diseases. We often see the bell, in old woodcuts, fastened round the -neck of the little pig which accompanies the saint. The bell assumed a -very worldly meaning, when it called the tipplers to their merry -gatherings, which called forth in England the patriotic rhyme:-- - - "Let the King - Live Long! - Dong Ding - Ding Dong!" - -The Tower of St. Barbara grew into an independent tavern sign, which, -misunderstood, occasionally changed into a cage. Even the platter on -which rested the head of the Baptist is deformed into the "Plat -d'argent" over a tavern door. Hogarth does not refrain from -introducing a sign in his engraving "Noon," of 1738, showing the -Baptist's head on a charger, with the cynical inscription "Good -Eating." Whether such coarsenesses were actually perpetrated, even -under the lax regime of Charles II in England, when frivolity reigned -after the fall of Cromwell, it is hard to decide. Possibly they may be -set down as brutal outcroppings of the satirist's truth-deforming -brain. The fact is, that even in the sixteenth century the abuse of -religious subjects for the most disreputable resorts roused the -indignation of serious, thinking men. Thus a certain Artus Desire -indignantly laments, in a rhymed broadside, that the tavern-keepers -dare place over houses where the great hell devil himself is lodged -the images of God and the saints to advertise their vine:-- - - "De dieu les Sainctz sont leur crieurs de vin - Tant au citez que villes et villages, - Et vous mettront dessus les grands passages - Au lieux d'horreur et d'immondicite - Des susditz sainctz les devotes images - En prophanant leur preciosite." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -SECULAR HOSPITALITY: KNIGHTLY AND POPULAR SIGNS - -[Illustration: Adler Leonberg, Wuerttemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -SECULAR HOSPITALITY: KNIGHTLY AND POPULAR SIGNS - - "In bibliis ich selten las - viel lieber in dem Kruge sass." - - RINGWALDT, 1582. - - -The heavy castle gates in mediaeval times were gladly opened to the -minstrels who came to charm with their art the banquets of the noble -lords and ladies--troubadours and minstrels, the ancestors of that -vast and still thriving fraternity of poets whose blood runs too -quickly through their veins to keep them content in the quiet monotony -of a home. With the sailing clouds, with the migrating birds, and the -rising sun they wander through woods and fields "to be like their -mother the wandering world." With Walt Whitman they love the open road -and hate the confinement of the stuffy room:-- - - "Afoot and light-hearted, I take the open road, - Healthy, free, the world before me, - The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose." - -Never do they feel happier than when the long, long road lies before -them, which now seems to dip down into the green sea of the forests -and now to climb straight into the bright blue heaven. Jean Richepin, -himself a "chemineau," now well settled as an honorable member of the -French Academy, has sung the open road's praise. All poets feel deeply -the words of Kleist, "Life is a journey." And how bitter the journey -often was in the days of the minstrels, how glad they were when the -dark forests and unsafe roads lay behind them and the big hearth-fire -of the castle hall brightened face and soul! Gratefully they praised -the noble lord for his hospitable reception and his kindly welcome. -Thus Walter von der Vogelweide, Germany's greatest minstrel:-- - - "Nun ich drei Hoefe weiss, wo Ehrenmaenner hausen, - Fehlt mir es nicht an Wein, kann meine Pfanne sausen... - Mir ist nicht not, dass ich nach Herberg fernumher noch streiche." - -Impoverished knights may have occasionally hung out an iron helmet -over the castle door as a sign that they were willing to receive and -to entertain paying guests: certainly a more honorable method of -gaining one's livelihood than to plunder the passing merchant or even -one's own peasants, as was the noble fashion at the end of mediaeval -times. But it is more likely that such poor noblemen would first think -of using their city houses for such commercial purposes and not their -lonely and uninviting fortified castles. Here on one of their city -houses, where they used to lodge in time of markets or city -festivities, the first iron helmet perhaps appeared as a knightly -sign. Certain it is that we find inns of such name in France as well -as in Germany, the most famous one in Rothenburg on the Tauber, the -best preserved mediaeval city in existence, infinitely more charming -than the much-talked-about Carcassonne, reconstructed by -Viollet-le-Duc with such cold correctness. Here in the quaint hall of -the "_Eisenhut_," under the glittering arms of knights dead and gone, -we will rest awhile and gladden our heart with the golden Tauber wine. -Let the comfort-seeker go to the modern prosaic hotel outside the city -wall! - -The iron helmet is not the only martial tavern sign. Other names -sounded equally well to the soldier's ear: in France "Le Haubert" -(iron shirt), for instance, that might remind us of the old English -inn, "The Tabard," in which Chaucer gathered his joyous pilgrims for -happy meals and amusing conversations; the sword, St. Peter's -attribute, was used as tavern sign in his holy city Rome in the -sixteenth century ("alla spada"); the cannon was very popular as -"canone d'oro" in northern Italy; and many others. - -Like chicks under the wings of the hen, the little huts of the -villagers cluster around the protecting mountain castle of the -knightly lord. Most naturally the village innkeeper, therefore, -chooses his master's escutcheon as a tavern sign. And the landlord in -the town feels equally honored when noble guests leave him, as parting -presents, their coats of arms neatly painted on the panels or the -windows of the dining-room as Montaigne informs us: "Les Alemans sont -fort amoureux d'armoiries; car en tous les logis, il en est une -miliasse que les passans jantilshomes du pais y laissent par les -parois, et toutes leurs vitres en sont fournies." Although a -philosopher Montaigne himself was vain enough to follow the pretty -custom, and occasionally to dedicate his escutcheon to the innkeeper -as a sign of his satisfaction; so in "The Angel" at Plombieres, -already a popular resort even in his day, and in Augsburg at "The -Linde," situated near the palace of the rich Fuggers. Like a good -housekeeper, who daily writes his expenses down, he tells us that the -painter, who did his work very well, received "deux escus" or two -dollars, the carpenter "vint solds" or a whole quarter, for the screen -on which the escutcheon was painted and which was placed before the -big green stove. - -The painting of heraldic designs goes back to the time of the -crusaders and soon became the principal source of income of the -painters. In the Netherlands, which grew to be such a wonderful hotbed -of art, the sign-painters were called "Schilderer," for that same -reason, a name which clings to them to the present day. Whoever has -traveled in England knows that the same custom of the nobility, to -give coats of arms to the landlords, prevailed there too. "Mol's -Coffee House" in Exeter, close to the beautiful cathedral, is a good -example. Here Sir Walter Raleigh used to sit in the paneled room on -the second floor, drink a cup of the beverage then quite rare, and -chat with his friends. All along the walls the escutcheons of the -noble visitors of days gone by decorate the quaint old room and every -modern visitor admires them duly, especially that of the valiant but -unhappy seafarer. - -To come back to the heraldic tavern signs, we find everywhere in -German lands, where once the imperial House of Hapsburg ruled, their -coat of arms, the double eagle, and in the domains of the House of -Savoy and the Dukes of Lorraine, the cross. In France the escutcheon -of the Bourbons, the fleur de lys, hangs over the tavern door, and in -England the white horse of the royal House of Hanover. Long before the -Georges, the white horse was a popular symbol in England. The giant -horse, roughly hewn in the chalk of the "White Horse Hill," near -Faringdon, still reminds us of Alfred the Great's victory over the -Danes at Ashdown in 871. In our days the noble white horse has been -degraded into an advertisement for Scotch whiskey--O quae mutatio -rerum! - -The heraldic meaning of the signs was just as quickly forgotten as -was the pious significance of the religious signs. Only a few notable -animals, such as lions, unicorns, and the like interested the tavern -habitues. - -[Illustration: Zum Roessle Bozen] - -More important than the hospitality under the protection of knights -and sovereigns was the hospitality extended to the traveler behind big -city walls. The city government provided not only lodgings for the -poor pilgrims, tramps, and jobless people, but not infrequently -offered hospitality likewise to the merchant who came to display his -wares in the open vaults of the city hall. In the famous "Rathskeller" -every business transaction was duly celebrated by buyer and seller; -the brotherly act of drinking a glass of wine together seemed to be -the essential finishing-touch which clinched the business. These old -cellars are still a great attraction of the town in many German -places, such as Bremen, Luebeck, or Heilbronn, for instance, and all -travelers are glad to refresh themselves in their quiet vaults. - -A hospitality of more intricate character was given by the guilds, in -their houses, to all the members of the trade or craft. Most naturally -they choose as signs symbols of the special work of each guild. The -fisher and boatmen loved to see a fish, an anchor, or a ship over -their tavern door; but they did not claim these signs as a special -privilege, every "compleat angler," to use Izaak Walton's expression, -as well as every incomplete one, could hang a fish out over his porch -or on his house corner even if he did not keep a tavern. The house -where Dr. Faustus treated his comrades in such miraculous way was -called "Zum Anker" and belonged to a nobleman in Erfurt if we believe -the oldest popular reports of the event. Goethe transferred the scene -to Auerbach's Keller in Leipzig, which was familiar to him from his -happy student-days. Old sea-captains and blue-jackets cannot resist -the temptations of "The Anchor" even if the signboard does not invite -them so charmingly as the one of "The Three Jolly Sailors" in -Castleford:-- - - "Coil up your ropes and anchor here - Till better weather does appear." - -The shoemakers most naturally decorated their guild-house with a -beautiful big boot, a word closely related to the old French "botte," -a large drinking cup, and its diminutive "bouteille," the origin of -the English "bottle." The butchers seldom show the cruel axe, far -oftener the poetical lamb, their oldest sign being the Pascal lamb -holding the little flag of the resurrection. A patriotic English -landlord in the neighborhood of Bath changed the flag into a Union -Jack, forgetting all about the religious meaning of the sign as it -still appears in a French relief "L'Agneau Pascal" in Caen, Rue de -Bayeux. The tavern "Zum guldin Schooffe" in Strassburg, "la vieille -ville allemande" as Victor Hugo called the city quite frankly, is -perhaps the oldest sign of this group. It dates back to the year 1311 -at least. Another butcher sign is the ox or bull, most popular, of -course, in the land of John Bull, where the bull appears in the most -surprising combinations as "Bull and Bell," "Bull and Magpie," "Bull -and Stirrup," and the like. - -The tavern signs of the bakers, "The Crown," "The Sun," or "The Star," -lead us back to old pagan times in which the cakes offered as -sacrifice to the gods were shaped in the same curious forms which we -observe to-day in our various breakfast rolls. Christian legends of -the holy three kings and the star that stood over the stable in -Bethlehem effaced these pagan souvenirs. On the day of Epiphany -especially beautiful crowns were baked; in France the bakers still -follow the old tradition and offer such a crown to each of their -customers as a present, not without hiding a tiny porcelain shoe in -the dough. The happy finder of this shoe becomes the king of the -company. Dutch masters have represented the merry family scene of the -Epiphany dinner, none perhaps so convincingly as Jordaens in the -famous picture, "The King Drinks," in the great gallery of the Louvre. - -"The Star" has always been one of the most popular signs, its gentle -glow seemed to promise the traveler on the dark road a friendly -resting-place after the long, weary day. Sometimes the modern owner of -such a venerable old star-inn promises even more and advertises his -place, in slangy rhyme, as the landlord of "The Star" in York. - - "Here at the sign of Ye Old Starre - You may sup and smoke at your ease - Tip-Top cigars, port above par, - A Host ever ready to please." - -Beside "The Star" and "The Golden Sun," where you drink "the best beer -under the sun," we find "The Moon," especially "The Half-Moon," as -great favorites of the people. The naval victory of 1571 at Lepanto, -where the united Christian fleet destroyed The Turk,--in those days -not a sick man, but rather a robust and aggressive one,--is perhaps -the cause of the popularity of the half-moon. The Virgin Mary, to whom -the pious sailors ascribed the victory, was often represented as -standing on a half-moon, because she was "the woman clothed with the -sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve -stars" whom the poet of the Revelation had seen in his immortal -dreams. Crowned with her diadem of stars she was dear to the seamen, -the "_stella maris_," to whom they lifted their anguished soul in -prayer: "Ave Maria, navigantium stella, quos ad portum tranquillum -vocata conducis." As "light of the world" she was praised in the old -"dialogus consolatorius" where the sinner humbly begs her:-- - - "Festina miseris misereri, virgo beata! - Virgo Maria pia splendens orbisque lucerna - Per tua presidia nos duc ad regna beata!" - -But it is not the half-moon, lying horizontally as a silver bowl in -the Christian presentation of the heavenly queen, which we find on the -tavern sign, but always the standing crescent of the Turkish flag, and -we are glad of it. If we study the life in these half-moon taverns at -the hand of Teniers' pictures and etchings, we find very little that is -Christian and worthy of the sacred symbol of the Revelation. - -Still more popular than the stars of heaven is the animal world on the -tavern sign. The ark of Noah itself and all it contained, every -creeping and flying thing, was welcome over the tavern door in those -days when men and beast, often living under the same roof, as in the -divine inn of Bethlehem, were nearer to each other than they are now. -Nothing less than a tavern zoology could give a complete enumeration, -which we prefer to avoid. We will choose only a few which were -especially dear to the people. First of all, naturally, the house -companions,--the cat, "Le Chat qui dort" which found a quiet -resting-place for her old days in the Musee Carnavalet in Paris; the -dog, popular in sport-loving England; the ox and the donkey, even an -elegant mule we find in the "Auberge de la Mule" at Avignon, praised -by Abraham Goelnitz, the Baedeker of the seventeenth century, as a -"logement elegant et agreable." We have already met the cock in Rome -of old, on the Forum, in Holland we see him occasionally as a cavalier -in high boots. The dove, the symbol of the Holy Ghost, decorates the -"Gasthaeuser zum Geiste" one of which stood in the old Strassburg and -saw the remarkable interview between the young Goethe and the poet -Herder. Finally the stork, the true sign of German "Gemuetlichkeit"; -the one in Basel was honored by the visit of Victor Hugo: "Je me suis -loge a la Cigogne, et de la fenetre ou je vous ecris, je vois dans une -petite place deux jolies fontaines cote a cote, l'une du quinzieme -siecle, l'autre du seizieme." - -To the Philistine the strange animals of foreign distant lands had a -greater attraction still. In every modern "zoo" you will always find a -larger public before the monkey house than before the cage of the lion -or even the elephant, whose dignity and wisdom find fewer admirers -than does the foolishness of the apes. Early in the Middle Ages we -find this most curious of strange animals on the tavern signs. -"L'Ostel des Singes," sometimes called "The Green Monkeys," in -Senlis, France, is first mentioned in the year 1359. Our "Affenwagen" -is a Swiss sign, artfully carved in wood, and dates from the -Renaissance times, as does the inn "Zum Rohraff" in Strassburg, often -referred to in the sermons of Geiler von Kaisersberg. - -When the first dromedary made its appearance in Germany, a circular -containing a primitive woodcut invited old and young to see "the -curious animal called Romdarius." Fifty miles it could run in one day -in the sand sea--i.e., desert--the text said, and in summer it could -live three months without drinking "ohne sauffen." This last-mentioned -quality seemed to predestine the animal to a temperance sign, but -fortunately the description added, "when it drinks it drinks much at -one time," and so the tavern-keepers did not hesitate to adopt it as a -tavern sign. As an example we might quote the inn "Zum Kameeltier" in -Strassburg. Somewhat later, in the first half of the seventeenth -century, "The Crocodile" appears over the tavern door in Antwerp, and -this reminds us of the stuffed animals in the pharmacy described by -Shakespeare in "Romeo and Juliet":-- - - "And in his needy shop a tortoise hung, - An alligator stuff'd, and other skins - Of ill-shap'd fishes." - -The zebra seems to have been known quite early if we are allowed to -take "The Striped Donkey" as such. In the inn "L'Ane raye" at Rheims, -the father of Joan of Arc is reported to have lodged when he came to -see the coronation in 1429. One of the last comers of the curious and -rare animals was the giraffe; it appeared in Paris for the first time -in 1827, and was immediately adopted as a tavern sign by a host in -Etampes, near the capital. The "enseigne" represented "le dit animal -conduit par un Bedouin." - -But the most curious animals of creation did not suffice. The -imagination of the people created others still more strange and the -landlords put these fabulous beasts on their signs too: the unicorn, -the dragon, the siren. "The Siren" tavern in Lyons at the time of the -Renaissance was evidently a very attractive place which the traveler -found very hard to leave again, because, as a contemporary tells us, -"il s'y trouve des Sirenes." In later days, when the popular stories -were forgotten, the sirens were changed to "Six Reines," the six -queens. In another chapter we shall see how Keats in his poem, The -Mermaid, has celebrated one of these old Siren taverns. - -How deeply rooted in the old days was this belief in "Moerwonder" or -ill-shaped fishes and malformations of the human figure will appear at -a glance in Schedel's "Welt Chronik" printed by Koberger in Nuremberg -in 1493, where we see them in strange woodcuts before us: the man -with ears hanging to the ground and other misshaped creatures. - -The same source of popular imagination created "Le Geant," the sign -"Zu den Slaraffen" in Strassburg, 1435, and the sign of "The Little -and the Great Sleeper" that during three centuries, from 1400 to 1705, -invited the citizens of the Alsatian capital to cross its hospitable -threshold. A charming picture, "The Sleeping Giant of the Woods" by -Lukas Kranach, in Dresden's famous Gallery, will help us to imagine -how the big sleeper probably looked. Is it the famous "Wild Man" or -"Le Grand Hercule" who sleeps here in the shadow of the forest? One -thing is sure, he has been drinking deeply and is dead asleep; nothing -can wake him up, not even this little army of dwarfs around him who -attack him with lances and arrows, nay, even try to saw into his -strong limbs. - -Since the days of the "Roman du Renard," the first version of which -dates back to the eleventh century, to the days of Goethe's "Reineke -Fuchs," shrewd master Fox was a favorite of the people. In old -miniatures we encounter him as a monk, his pointed nose buried in a -prayer-book. His exploits most naturally form good themes for the -tavern sign. Dancing before a hen to seduce the foolish creature by -his graceful charms, he was represented on an old French sign in Le -Mans: "Renard dansant devant une poule." Preaching to ducks, "Wo der -Fuchs den Enten predigt" is the name of a Strassburg tavern, which -dates only from 1848. His shrewdness before the royal tribunal of the -lion was well known; Montaigne, therefore, warns the tavern-keepers -who desire the patronage of advocates against painting him on the -signboard: "qui veut avoir la clientele des procureurs ne doit point -mettre renard sur son enseigne." - -Other animals appealed more to the culinary instincts of the -passer-by, among them the swan, "l'oiseau de bon augure," which we do -not like to see turned into roasts. But in Chaucer's times it was -evidently considered a fine dish, since he lets the monk in his -"Canterbury Tales" say: "A fat swan loved he best of any rost." A -picture by David Teniers in The Hague, called "The Kitchen," shows how -the bird was served in his natural glory, a crown of flowers on his -proud head. This custom to serve fowl in full plumage is proved by -Montaigne's description of a dinner in Rome: "On y servit force -volaille rotie, revetue de sa plume naturelle comme vifve ... oiseaus -vifs (enplumes) en paste." - -To this group belongs the peacock, in the old days the official roast -for marriage feasts. Its picture on the signboard promised large -accommodations for people who wanted to celebrate marriages in true -style. "Le Paon blanc" in Paris, Rue de la Mortelleric, now a rather -shady region, was once a noble inn. Shortly after his marriage, -Rembrandt painted the famous picture in Dresden, where he represents -himself, a glass of champagne in hand, happily holding his beloved -Saskia on his knees. The richly decorated table in the background -still carries the peacock of the marriage feast. Of "The Pheasant" in -Worms, before the days of gas and electricity, Victor Hugo has given -us this amusing picture: "J'etais installe dans l'auberge du Faisan, -qui, je dois le dire, avait le meilleur aspect du monde. Je mangeais -un excellent souper dans une salle meublee d'une longue table et de -deux hommes occupes a deux pipes. Malheureusement la salle a manger -etait peu eclairee, ce qui m'attrista. En y entrant on n'apercevait -qu'une chandelle dans un nuage. Les deux hommes degageaient plus de -fumee que dix heros." - -Sometimes a living bird served originally as a sign. The parrot of the -pharmacy, "Au Perroquet Vert," in Lyons, was a real bird, which had -learned even some Latin phrases, as "ora pro nobis," from the passing -processions, and naturally attracted many people by its wisdom. He -belonged to the living signs to which Balzac refers in "Les scenes de -la vie privee": "Les animaux en cage dont l'adresse emerveillait les -passants." Sometimes the cage itself was adopted as a tavern sign and -in Lyons a street was named "Rue de la Cage" for a public-house of -this name. A charming little French rhyme from the beginning of the -seventeenth century introduces us to such a cage-tavern:-- - - "Mademoiselle Louizon - Demeurant cher Alizon - Justement au cinquieme etage - Pres du cabaret de la Cage." - -Not only bird-cages and their musical or scholarly inhabitants, but -any remarkable object that happened to stand before the tavern was -readily interpreted by the people as a sign. In the little English -town of Grantham, where we had already the opportunity of admiring the -noble "Angel Inn," we saw in a tree before a modest tavern a beehive -with this inscription on a board beneath it:-- - - "Stop, traveller, this wondrous sign explore, - And say when thou hast viewed it o'er and o'er, - Grantham now two rarities are thine, - A lofty steeple and a living sign." - -To tell the truth, the lofty tower of St. Wulfram seemed to us the -only remarkable "rarity" of the two, the more so as the church was -beautifully decorated for Thanksgiving Day with flowers and the fruits -of the field, not to mention its unique little library with the -chained old books. - -We may infer the great popularity of signs by the ceremonious way in -which they were changed when a guild removed to other quarters. The -sign was carried in solemn procession to the new inn and hung up with -blasts of trumpets. The Swabian poet Moerike has tried to express the -melancholy emotions of the old landlord when he sees the sign changed -and finds it hard to recognize his old inn:-- - - "Where is the golden lamb of yore - So dear to my old guests? - I see a cock with reddish breast - Pecked it away from the door." - -An English author even tells us about the burial of a sign, which, he -says, was not an unusual affair in Cumberland. We give the story in -his own words: "It is a function always observed when an inn in the -neighborhood of Lady Carlisle's estate at Naworth has lost its -license. The inn sign is solemnly removed, and in the dead of night is -committed to the grave, in the presence of the old customers of the -inn. As a rule it is 'watered' with tears in the shape of a bottle of -whiskey, and the burial sentence runs as follows:-- - - "'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, - If Lady Carlisle won't have you - The Devil must.'" - -But we shall not end our chapter with this story of rather doubtful -taste. If we review the wealth of popular signs, which we have in no -way exhausted, we may well say that everything on earth may be adopted -by the people as a sign, from the cradle in which we dream our first -dreams to the cross that some day will stand over our "last inn" as a -pious and scholarly man has called our grave. In the beautiful -churchyard that enfolds in its greenery England's oldest existing -church, St. Martin in Canterbury, we read on the tombstone of Dean -Alford the simple words: "Deversorium Viatoris Hierosolymam -Proficiscentis," last inn of a pilgrim to the heavenly Jerusalem. - -[Illustration: .EAGLE.AND.CHILD.IN.LONDON.] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -TRAVELING WITH SHAKESPEARE AND MONTAIGNE - -[Illustration: Krone Leonberg, Wuerttemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -TRAVELING WITH SHAKESPEARE AND MONTAIGNE - - "Let us to the Tiger all to dinner!" - - _Comedy of Errors._ - - -Little William, already in the days when he went "with his satchel and -shining morning face creeping like a snail unwillingly to school," had -ample leisure and opportunity to gaze admiringly at the many signs -which adorned the narrow streets of the quiet little town on the Avon. -The memory of them still lives in some of the Stratford hotels. The -landlady of the "Golden Lion," for instance, remarks on her bill: -"Known as Ye Peacocke Inn in Shakespeare's time 1613." Even the "Red -Horse," to-day extremely modern and uninteresting-looking, goes back -to these old days. In Washington Irving's time the place probably -looked more quaint and cozy, if we may believe his praise of the old -inn in his "Sketch-Book": "To a homeless man, there is a momentary -feeling of something like independence and territorial consequence, -when, after a weary day's travel, he kicks off his boots, thrusts his -feet into slippers, and stretches himself before an inn fire." - -This picture gallery of the street signs was still more magnificent in -London, where even the theaters had their signs out, as "The Globe," -"Red Bull," "A Curtain," "A Fortune," "Cross Keys," "The Phenix," "The -Rose," "The Cockpit," and we may be sure that they made quite an -impression on the lively mind of the young actor. The word "sign" -occurs frequently in his vocabulary. Inclined to see below the -surface, he does not seem to trust the glittering of the sign, as the -words of Iago indicate:-- - - "I must show out a flag and sign of love, - Which is indeed but sign." - -The signs of his birthplace were probably rather poor-looking things, -since he uses the word in his early drama, "Titus Andronicus," -contemptuously:-- - - "Ye sanguine, shallow-hearted boys! - Ye white-lim'd walls! ye ale-house painted signs!" - -The sign of the "Falcon" was not yet hung out on the old house of -Scholar's Lane and Chapel Street in those years of 1571 to 1578, when -little Shakespeare went to the Grammar School, in which the traveler -to this day may see the chair of the pedagogue who first introduced -him to the secrets of literature. But the circle of life led him back -to the same narrow street, and opposite the stately building, which -now is the "Falcon," Shakespeare died. The mortuary house has -disappeared and the ground has been transformed into a garden. Here we -are infinitely nearer to the poet's soul than in the tiny -birth-chamber disfigured by a huge bust, where the guide drowns all -our thoughts in a flood of empty words. Here in this garden the -genius of the poet seemed to reveal himself most charmingly. Where -once the house stood in which he died we found a little child -peacefully sleeping--all alone, unguarded, but the gentle rose of -youth blooming on his cheeks--under the perfumed shadow of flowers; a -symbol of eternal life conquering death. - -[Illustration: THE.FALCON IN.CHESTER] - -If we enter the "Falcon," Shakespeare's words greet us from the wall: -"Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used, exclaim no -more against it." The gentle invitation of the blinking sign to enter -and to share joy and sorrow with friendly comrades, Shakespeare -himself has often followed. A French critic, Mezieres, went so far as -to call him "un habitue de la taverne," politely adding that "he never -lost his self-control and never contended himself with the light joys -of the flying hour." - -The "Red Lion" in Henley-on-the-Thames once owned a window -pane--recently by mistake packed in the trunk of a confused -traveler--into which Shenstone scratched the much-quoted words:-- - - "Whoe'er has traveled life's dull round, - Where'er his stages may have been, - May sigh to think he still has found - The warmest welcome at an inn." - -They are of true Shakespearean spirit and remind us of Speed's words -in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona" (II, v):-- - - "I'll to the alehouse with you presently, where, for one shot of - five pence, thou shalt have five thousand welcomes." - -It would seem hardly necessary further to urge such an enthusiastic -lover of the tavern, but Launce thought differently. - - _Launce._ If thou wilt go with me to the alehouse, so; if not, - thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a - Christian. - - _Speed._ Why? - - _Launce._ Because thou hast not so much charity in thee as to - go to the ale with a Christian. - -We are not surprised to hear the final question, "Wilt thou go?" -promptly answered, "At thy service." - -Most of the tavern names Shakespeare mentions are true products of the -Renaissance times when classical studies were extremely popular. "The -Centaur," "The Phenix," "The Pomegranate,"--an ornament we find so -often in the brocades of the sixteenth century,--all are signs of his -own time, simply transplanted from London he knew so well to Genoa or -Ephesus, places he had never put his eye on. "The Pegasus," by the man -in the street called "The Flying Horse," decorated still in the year -1691 the house of a jeweler and banker in Lombard Street. In passing, -we may remark that all the signs which to-day surprise the traveler in -this busy street are more or less happy reproductions of the old -signs, hung out there by the great banking firms for King Edward's -coronation. - -In our wanderings through England we occasionally cross the path -Shakespeare went with his company of actors. The court in the "George -Inn" in Salisbury, to-day transformed into a pleasant little garden, -was once the scene where the "Strolling Players" of the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries used to give their performances, and here -Shakespeare himself acted when he visited Salisbury. A police -ordinance allowed only in the "George" theatrical amusements, and -demanded that all plays should be ended by seven o'clock in the -evening. This George Hotel was first mentioned in 1401 as -"Georgysyn." Oliver Cromwell slept here October 17, 1645, on his way -to the army. The old beams which carry the ceiling of the parlor, and -which a shrewd landlord has discovered in other rooms and freed from -the hiding plaster, are the delight of American travelers, who refuse -to sleep in rooms without beams. In the days of Pepys it was an -elegant hostelry. In his "Diary," in which he praises Salisbury as "a -very brave place," he puts down the following remarks: "Come to the -George Inn where lay in a silk bed, and very good diet." Less pleased -he was with the bill, which he thought "so exorbitant that I was mad -and resolved to truble the mistress about it and get something for the -poor; and came away in that humour." The result of his protest was not -great. After paying L2 5_s._ 6_d._ for the night he gains just two -shillings for the poor (one for "an old woman in the street"). Similar -privileges for theatrical performances had the "Red Lion" in Boston, -the little English mother of her big American daughter, and the -"Mayde's Hede" in Norwich. The closed space of these old innyards, -with its staircases leading to the surrounding gallery, was -thoroughly fitted for the theatrical representations, and it is quite -possible that this gallery of the innyard influenced the architecture -of the later theaters. Few of these innyards have survived, -unfortunately, but we have still a wonderful example in the charming -court of the so-called "New Inn" in Gloucester. It was new in the -fifteenth century. How enchanting a Shakespeare play would be in the -frame of its verdure! - -In the First Part of "Henry IV," the poet himself has introduced us -into such an innyard. It is very early morning and everything still -dark. Carters come to look after their goods and to harness their -horses, exchanging remarks in plain language: "I think this be the -most villanous house in all London road for fleas"; or, "God's body! -the turkeys in my pannier are quite starved. What, ostler! A plague on -thee! hast thou never an eye in thy head?"--a master scene of -realistic observation in the style Lessing and Goethe admired so much, -and Voltaire hated so that he proclaimed: "Shakespeare was a -remarkable genius, but he had no taste, since for two hundred years he -has spoiled the taste of the English nation." - -How important the spacious enclosure of the innyard was for the -farmers coming to town with their loaded wagons is shown by the fact -that still to-day many a hotel in Germany is simply called "Hof" -(court) or "Gasthof"; as, for example: "Koelner Hof," "Rheinischer -Hof," "Habsburger Hof," even "Kaiserhof," sumptuous modern structures, -perhaps, which have only a narrow lighting shaft in the center of the -building and nothing of the large and airy courtyards of the good old -times. - -Many of the tavern names Shakespeare mentions in his plays we know -from other sources as signs that actually decorated the streets of -London. "Leopard" and "Tiger" were infrequent, but we hear of a -"Leopard Tavern" in Chancery Lane, which still existed in 1665. The -popular pronunciation was "lubber," and in this form we find the beast -quoted in "Henry IV" (Part II, II, i), where it is said of Falstaff: -"He is indited to dinner to the Lubber's-head in Lumbert street, to -Master Smooth's the silk-man." Such curious distortions of strange -words are nothing uncommon in popular language; we have only to -remember how the old Yankee farmers used to call the panther by the -gentle name "painter." Another of Falstaff's favorite resorts was "The -Half-Moon," likewise mentioned in "Henry IV" (Part I, II, iv), where -he used to consume countless "pints of bastard" and of dark Spanish -wine. "The Tiger" referred to in the "Comedy of Errors" (III, i) was, -too, an actual sign of the times, as we hear of a "Golden Tiger" in -Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. On the other hand, the name of the -"Porcupine," which occurs in the same play, is probably invented as a -characteristic sign for a place of ill-fame. - -The most renowned of all the Falstaff inns is doubtless "The Garter," -his real home, so vividly described in the "Merry Wives of Windsor": -"There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-bed and -truckle-bed; 'tis painted about with the story of the Prodigal, fresh -and new." These few words give us an exact picture how a sleeping-room -in an inn looked in his time. The truckle-bed, it seems, was put under -the standing bed and was used by the servant, if we interpret rightly -the old rhyme on a "servile tutor":-- - - "He lieth in the truckle-bed, - While his young master lieth o'er his head." - -Even the wall paintings, as Shakespeare describes them, are not -invention. In the sixteenth century people loved to paint the story of -the lost son on the walls of the tavern room, just as in the fifteenth -century they pinned up little primitive woodcuts representing St. -Christopher. Later we shall see a painter of talent like Hogarth not -despise the decoration of taverns as below his genius and embellish -with works of his brush the "Elephant Tavern" in Fenchurch Street, -where he stayed for a time. - -The name "Garter Inn," pronounced "de Jarterre" by Doctor Caius, is -historical, too. Later, in the times of Charles I, who added the star -to the insignia of the order founded by Edward III in 1350, the "Star -and Garter" appeared. - -A true Renaissance sign we find again in the "Sagittary," cursorily -mentioned in "Othello" (I, i). The archer, the ninth sign of the -Zodiac, was very familiar to the people from the old calendar -woodcuts. Italian prints, as the beautifully illustrated "Fasciculus -medicinae" (Venice, 1500), represent him in classical fashion as an -elegant centaur, very unlike the little philistine with round belly, -such as he appears in the earlier "teutsch kalender" of Ulm, 1498. The -common people did not call him "Sagittarius," but "bowman" (Schuetze). -There is good historical evidence of a "Bowman Tavern" in Drury Lane, -London. It is natural that Shakespeare, a true son of the Renaissance, -should call him with the classical name, just as the first German -composer of operas changed his good German name "Schuetze" to the more -pretentious form of "Sagittarius." - -In these "Bowman Taverns" the guilds of the archers used to come -together; as, for instance, in the "Hotel de l'Arquebuse" in Geneva, -where the Swiss archers had their joyous reunions after they had -finished their outdoor sport to shoot the "papegex" (the parrot). Here -the king of the archers who had done the master shot "sans reproche" -and "sans tricherie" (without cheating), was celebrated in poetical -speeches, according to the customs of the times:-- - - "Je boy a vous, a votre amye, - Et a toute la compaignie!" - -[Illustration: .THE.OLD.BLUE.BOAR.IN.LINCOLN.] - -The most famous of all Shakespearean tavern signs is perhaps the -"Boar's Head." Washington Irving has told us in his research, "the -boar's head tavern, Eastcheap" about his investigations on this -important matter. "I sought, in vain, for the ancient abode of Dame -Quickly. The only relic of it is a boar's head, carved in relief in -stone, which formerly served as a sign; but at present [Irving's -'Sketch-Book' dates from 1820] is built into the parting line of two -houses, which stand on the site of the renowned tavern." To-day the -relief, blackened by age and curiously looking like Japanese -lacquer-work, belongs to the treasures of the Guildhall Museum in -London. The place where the old tavern stood is marked by the statue -of William IV, opposite the Monument Station of the subway. Merry -souvenirs of good old England are suggested by the boar's head, which -used to be served on Christmas Day decorated with rosemary and greeted -from the company with the half-Latin song:-- - - "Caput apri defero - Reddens laudes Domino, - The boar's head in hand bring I, - With garlands gay and rosemary; - I pray you all synge merrily, - Qui estis in convivio." - -It will be a great disappointment to our readers when we have to -confess that the unlucky fellows called literary critics have found -out that the stage-direction, "Eastcheap. A room in the Boar's Head -Tavern," is not Shakespeare's own remark, since we do not find it in -the early editions of "Henry IV." Still more so when they hear that -the relief in Guildhall bears the date 1668 and has been chiseled, -therefore, fifty-two years after the poet's death. A little -consolation we find in the not improbable supposition that it is a -copy in stone from the original wooden sign. Did not the famous fire, -which raged from Pudding Lane to Pye Corner in the year 1666, destroy -nearly all the Shakespearean London, with its old-fashioned frame -houses? For greater security the new buildings were erected in stone -and the old house emblems and carved tavern signs reappeared, too, in -more substantial form. The Guildhall Museum furnishes quite a number -of examples: "The Anchor" of 1669, "The Bell" of 1668, "The Spread -Eagle" of 1669, and others. - -And now let us follow Heinrich Heine on his voyage to Italy and hear -from him how in his days the noble palace of the Capulets, Julia's -paternal home in Verona, was debased to a common tavern. Near the -Piazza dell Erbe "stands a house which the people identify with the -old palace of the Capulets on account of a cap (in Italian 'cappello') -sculptured above the inner archway. It is now a dirty bar for carters -and coachmen; a red iron hat, full of holes, hangs out as a tavern -sign." To-day this disgraceful sign has disappeared and a marble slab -consecrates the popular myth as historical fact. This was then the -house where Romeo for the first time saw his lady love:-- - - _Romeo._ What lady's that which doth enrich the hand - Of yonder knight? - - _Servant._ I know not, sir. - - _Romeo._ O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! - Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night - Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear; - Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! - -Shakespeare's geographical knowledge seems to have been very limited. -If he could have gone, as the citizen of Stratford to-day, to the -Carnegie library, how many shocking errors he had avoided! Here he -could have learned that Bohemia has no seacoast, that Florence is not -a port, and that the forest of Arden neither hides lions nor contains -palms. But would this knowledge have increased his poetical feeling -and his power of representation? Hardly. The northern land with its -"sniping winds," how well it is characterized; how simple and true to -life his description of the mild climate of Sicily, crowned with -temples, in the "Winter's Tale" (III, i):-- - - "The climate's delicate, the air most sweet, - Fertile the isle; temple much surpassing - The common praise it bears." - -It was not yet the fashion to flee the winter and try to find eternal -spring in the South. Every season is welcome to the poet who loves the -peculiar charm of each one, as he says in "Love's Labor's Lost" -(I, i):-- - - "At Christmas I no more desire a rose - Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled shows, - But like of each thing that in season grows." - -He probably never traveled far, but how intensely does he feel the -curious sensations of all travelers, the weariness and yet the -eagerness to see the new sights! How perfectly modern sound in the -"Comedy of Errors" (I, i) the words:-- - - "Go bear it to the Centaur, where we host, - And stay there, Dromio, till I come to thee. - Within this hour it will be dinner time, - Till that, I'll view the manners of the town, - Peruse the traders, gaze upon the buildings - And then return and sleep within mine inn, - For with long travel I am stiff and weary." - -He possessed, like Schiller, who never saw Switzerland, and yet wrote -"Tell," the wonderful gift of filling the lack of distinct knowledge -with the poetical power of imagination, or, as he calls it himself, -"to make imaginary puissance" and "to piece out our imperfections with -our thought." - -No doubt certain things, details of local civilization, cannot be -imagined. One has to go and study them. We will therefore, to gain a -fuller understanding of the hospitality of the sixteenth century, -follow a contemporary of Shakespeare in his travels, Montaigne, a -clear-sighted observer, who as _grand seigneur_ had the good fortune -to make extended voyages in France, Southern Germany, and Italy. -Although himself rather a spoiled gentleman, he generally is full of -praise for the comforts and elegance of the inns, especially in the -south of Germany. Only once he had to complain about the "liberte et -fierte Almanesque," and this happened at Constance in the "Eagle." The -elegance of the Renaissance hostelries was indeed surprising and has -hardly been surpassed in our days of luxurious traveling. Not only -most of the beds were covered with silk, as in the "Crown" at Chalons, -for instance,--"la pluspart des lits et couvertes sont de soie,"--but -sometimes the table silver was richly and artistically decorated, as -in the "Bear" at Kempten (Bavaria): "On nous y servit de grands tasses -d'arjant de plus de sortes (qui n'out usage que d'ornemant, fort -labourees et semees d'armoiries de divers Seigneurs), qu'il ne s'en -tient en guiere de bones maisons." In many places still the wooden -plates and cups were used, sometimes covered with silver; tin plates, -which appear at the end of the fifteenth century, seem to impress -Montaigne as a novelty. He notes at least expressly that in the "Rose" -at Innsbruck he was served in "assiettes d'etain." In the same very -good "logis" he admired the beautiful laces which decorated the -bed-linen--the pride of the German Hausfrau to the present day. The -sheets had, he said, "quatre doigt de riche ouvrage de passement -blanc, comme en la pluspart des autres villes d'Allemaigne." Other -things, on the contrary, which one finds to-day in the most modest -lodging-house--as, a stairway carpet--seem to him very strange and a -great novelty, although he used to stop only in first-class houses. -The inn "Zur Linde" in Augsburg--"a l'enseigne d'un arbre nome 'linde' -au pais"--possessed this novel luxury, and Montaigne describes it in -this detailed manner: "Le premier appret etrange et qui montre leur -properte, ce fut de trouver a notre arrivee le degres de la vis -(spiral stairway) de notre logis tout couvert de linges, pardessus -lesquels il nous falloit marcher, pour ne salir les marches de leur -vis qu'on venait de laver." - -The linden tree was very popular in Germany as a tavern sign; under -the shadow and in the sweet perfume of the village Linde, old and -young loved to gather to dance and sing. How cozy the inn room looked -at times we may see from his description of the "Crown" in Lindau. A -great bird cage "a loger grand nombre d'oiseaus" was connected with -the woodwork of the comfortable bench that used to surround the big -stove. A look at Duerer's engraving, "The Dream," will help our -phantasy to see and feel more clearly the "Gemuetlichkeit" of such a -stove-corner. Leaning back in soft cushions, a philistine in -dressing-gown is peacefully dozing, while a beautiful young woman -standing at his side seems to reveal a part of his dream. - -The most luxurious hotel Montaigne ever stopped at was one in Rome, -nobly called "Au Vase d'Or." "As in the palace of kings," the -furniture was covered with silk and golden brocades. But he did not -feel at home in his royal room, constantly fearing to injure the -costly things, and to get a great bill against him for damages. So he -decided to move to more modest quarters, not without dictating to his -secretary: "M. de Montaigne estima que cette magnificence estoit -non-sulement inutile, mais encore penible pour la conservation de ces -meubles, chaque lict estant du pris de quatre ou cinq cans escus." -Most of the Italian inns of his time stood in curious contrast to this -royal sumptuosity. Often the windows were mere holes in the walls, -simply closed with wooden shutters, which darkened the room -completely if one needed to be protected against sun, wind, or rain. -Such was the case of the "Crown" in Siena: "Nous lojames a la -Couronne, asses bien, mais toujours sans vitres et sans chassis. Ces -fenetres grandes et toute ouvertes, sauf un grand contrevent de bois, -qui vous chasse le jour, si vous en voulez chasser le soleil ou le -vent; ce qu'il trouvoit bien plus insupportable et irremediable que la -faute des rideaux d'Allemaigne." This lack of curtains in German -hostelries was still, two hundred and fifty years later, for Victor -Hugo a reason to complain about the "indigence des rideaux." A real -miserable time Monsieur de Montaigne had in Florence in the -"hostellerie de l'ange," where certain little creatures drive him out -of bed and force him to sleep on the table: "J'etois force la nuit de -dormir sur la table de la salle ou je faisais mettre des matelas et -des draps ... pour eviter les punaises dont tous les lits sont fort -infectes." A similar experience he has in San Lorenzo, near Viterbo, -the charming little town of countless fountains. - -But we must take leave of our noble traveling companion and visit the -painters' studios of the time to see if we cannot find in their work -pictures of the taverns and signs we have heard so much about. - -[Illustration: .THE.ROWING.BARGE.WALLINGFORD.] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -TAVERN SIGNS IN ART--ESPECIALLY IN PICTURES BY THE DUTCH MASTERS - -[Illustration: The Trumpeter before a Tavern From a Painting by Du -Jardin in Amsterdam] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -TAVERN SIGNS IN ART--ESPECIALLY IN PICTURES BY THE DUTCH MASTERS - - "Als de vien es in der man - dan is de wiesheid in de kan." - - -Carlyle once complained that the artists preferred to paint -"Corregiosities," creations of their own fancy, instead of -representing the historic events of their own times. Only the Dutch -painters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in so far as -they keep clear of the Italian influence, may justly be called true -historical painters, certainly with greater reason than the school of -historical painting in the nineteenth century, which tried to -reconstruct events of epochs long past with the antiquarian help of -old armor, swords, costumes, and the like. We will find, therefore, in -the works of the Dutch masters the truest historical documents for our -modest sphere of investigation. - -While Greek art reflected, as in a pure mirror, the harmony of worldly -and religious life in Hellas, the mediaeval art essentially served -religious ideas, but in giving them a visible form used the worldly -elements of contemporary costume and architecture. Great artists like -Giotto, whose merits the proud words on his tombstone characterize, -"Ille ego sum per quem pinctura extincta revixit," proved themselves -the best historians, because they possessed, besides deep religious -concentration, the gift of true observation, thus introducing in their -works valuable information about the life of their own time. - -Not until the dawn of the Renaissance had freed the worldly spirit -from ecclesiastical shackles did men imbued with a deep-rooted love of -their country, like the Venetian Vittore Carpaccio, or the Florentine -Benozzo Gozzoli, give us true pictures of home life. Out of the solemn -walls of churches and cloisters they lead us into the animated and -picturesque life of the streets, which were not, as some authors try -to make us believe, above all the scene of wild and unbridled -passions, but which we might compare with arteries filled with the red -and healthy blood of social life. In his frescoes from the life of St. -Augustine in San Gimignano, Benozzo shows us how parents present -their little boy to the "magistro grammatice" in the street in front -of the open schoolroom. Little Augustine, crossing his arms over his -breast in an attitude of deference, looks rather inquisitively at his -future master, while in the parents' faces we read the earnest hope -that the son will make "ultra modum" great progress, and never deserve -such shameful public punishment as we see administered to the little -good-for-nothing on the right side of the picture. But we do not -observe a schoolmaster sign hung out, such as have come down to us -from the German sixteenth century. The Italian painter still delights, -above all, in the architectural beauty of his native city. In the same -way Carpaccio shows us the piazzas and canals of his beloved Venice in -the splendor of processions, solemn receptions of foreign ambassadors, -and the like, decorated with flags and Oriental carpets. The humble -inn of the people does not yet attract the eye of the artist, who -delights in the elegance of palaces and the grandeur of public -buildings. - -The early artists of the Netherlands, too, represent the street, not -filled with the noisy, everyday life of the people, but as a quiet -stage, on which the holy procession of saints solemnly move, as in -Memling's picture of St. Ursula's arrival in Rome. In quiet, elegant -rooms the noble donors kneel before the holy virgin, saints unite in a -"santa conversazione," far from the world. Here and there only a -window looks out on a tiny landscape, with rivers and bridges, roads, -and fortified towns on distant hills, beyond which our "Wanderlust" -draws us. This little section of nature slowly grows larger, the -narrow limitations of architecture fall; crowned only with the -glorious light of heaven, Mary sits in the open green fields, which -give good pasture to the tired donkey. Thus Jan van Scorel has painted -the holy family in a charming picture of the collection Rath in Pest. -Out of pious seclusion the way leads into free nature, to meadows and -brooks, to clattering mills, and finally, for a rest after the long -walk, to the peasant's inn. - -Even earlier, before the Dutch painters, a pupil of Duerer, Hans Sebald -Beham, one of the "godless painters of Nuremberg," who were exiled -from their native town on account of socialistic tendencies, has taken -us along this road. In one of his larger engravings he pictures the -different stages of a rustic wedding, and for the first time shows us -the signboard, hanging on a long stick, from a dormer window of the -tavern. We might date the painted sign from the invention of oil -painting on wooden panels by the brothers Van Eyck, an art which was -introduced in Italy through Antonello da Messina as late as 1473. The -signs of earlier date we have to imagine as either sculptures, closely -united with the architecture of the house, or as mural paintings such -as we still see to-day in Stein-on-the-Rhine, for instance, on the -house "Zum Ochsen." - -Master Duerer himself once hung out the little tablet with his famous -monogram as a tavern sign over the fantastic ruin, in which he places -the birth of Christ in his beautiful engraving of the year 1504, proud -to have prepared such a cozy inn for Our Lady and her God-given Child. - -But the whole wealth of signs, from the natural simple form of the -speaking sign to the most elaborate examples of signs painted or -artfully wrought in iron, reveals itself to us later in the realistic -pictures of the Dutch painters. - -The earliest representation of a speaking sign, where the merchandise -itself is still hung out, I have seen in a woodcut illustrating a book -printed in Augsburg in 1536: "Hie hebt an das Concilium zu Constanz." - -It is a baker's sign: large "brezels" on a wooden stick, a primitive -precursor of the artful baker's sign we observe in Jan Steen's -charming picture "The baker Arent Oostwaard" in the Rijks Museum at -Amsterdam. In more modern times the real merchandise is sometimes -supplanted by an imitation of the different loafs in wood and neatly -painted in natural colors, such as we see in an amusing sign from -Borgo San Dalmazzo, a picturesque mountain town near Cuneo in northern -Italy. - -A similar evolution may be noted in other trade signs: first the real -boots, and later a copy in wood, painted red if possible; first the -big pitcher and the shining tin tankard decorated with fresh foliage, -later the imitation in a wreath of iron leaves. Everywhere in the -tavern and kermess scenes painted by Dutch masters, we see real -pitchers and tankards hanging over the doors as speaking signs -inviting the peasants to enter and partake of a refreshing drink. In -northern Germany the "Krug" (pitcher) was so popular as a sign that -the landlord was called after it, "Krueger," to this day a widely -spread family name. - -[Illustration: Panetteria Borgo San Dalmazzo.] - -Unfortunately the Dutch artists loved the interior of the tavern still -better than its facade, otherwise we should find still more of the old -signs in their pictures. Jan Steen, a genius in the art of living as -well as in the art of painting, was a brewer's son and occasionally he -played the landlord himself, in 1654, in the tavern "Zur Schlange," -and in 1656 "In der Roskam," both in Delft. In his latter days, when -he had returned to his birthplace, Leyden, where he once was enrolled -as a student of the university, he obtained a license from the city -fathers "de neringh van openbare herbergh." Who could deny aesthetic -influence to tavern rooms bedecked with genuine Steens? Other artists -like Brouwer paid their tavern debts in pictures, and thus created an -artistic atmosphere in which young artists like Steen himself felt -most naturally at ease. - -In a picture in Brussels, "The Assembly of the Rhetoricians," the -president of a debating society reads the prize poem to the peasantry -assembled outside a tavern, the speaking sign of which, pitcher and -tankard, is hanging out on a large oaken branch. More frequent than -this bush is the wreath--known to us already as a sign in -antiquity--surrounding the jolly pitcher as we see it in Du Jardin's -sunny picture "The Trumpeter before a Tavern," in Amsterdam. - -David Teniers gives the preference to the half moon and rarely omits -to place a pitcher above the signboard. Sometimes he decorates his -moon tavern with the escutcheon of Austria and the imperial eagle; for -instance, in a picture in Vienna. In his great painting in the Louvre -we see a mail-stage-driver's horn, a kind of hunting-horn, although -the master, who died in 1690, did not live to see the mail-coach -introduced. - -[Illustration: The Half-Moon from a painting by Teniers in London] - -In the representations, then so popular, of corporations assembled at -festive meals, we sometimes remark in the background, through an open -window, the stately guild-houses crowned with their signs; the little -lamb with the flag, for instance, in Bartholomaeus van der Helst's -superb banquet of the city guard in the Rijks Museum at Amsterdam. But -perhaps no other artist has given us a more vivid impression of the -beauty of the street with its various glittering signs than the -brothers Berkheyden in the picture of which we reproduce a section in -our Frontispiece. The street itself has been the painter's real -object, the play of light and shade on its various architectural -features fascinates him more than the people passing through it, who -once acted the principal role and are now treated as mere accessories -valuable for accenting the perspective of the picture. Gerrit -Berkheyden has painted the same market-place of Harlem again in his -sunny picture of 1674 in the London National Gallery, but this time -the street, gayly decorated with signs, is more distant and lost in -shadow. - -Fifty years later Hogarth gave us a picture of London streets and -their fantastic signs, but not in the Dutch spirit of naive -truthfulness. There is hardly an engraving among his numerous -productions representing a street scene, without a tavern sign. All -forms are represented, the detached signpost characteristic of -England, such as the "Adam and Eve" sign on the large engraving "The -March to Finchley," or the sign of "The Sun" hung out on a bracket in -his engraving of "The Day," dated 1738; again, a painted board, -fastened against the wall, as we see it over the door of the Bell -Tavern, in one of his earliest prints dated 1731 in the cycle "A -Harlot's Progress." In the same plate we notice over another tavern -door a large chessboard, familiar to us from the old Roman taverns. -Usually this cubistic pattern decorates the signpost standing in front -of the alehouse, as seen in our design of the sign-painter from the -engraving "The Day." Hogarth's sarcastic mind was inclined anyway to -distort life's pictures like a comic mirror, and it will be difficult -to determine how much further he has caricatured the actual signs he -saw in the streets of London which, themselves, were very often the -creations of a cartoonist. Most of his signs seem true copies from -life; others, like the barber sign in the engraving "The Night," or -the above-mentioned "Good Eating," I am inclined to think -exaggerations or fanciful inventions, although, to be sure, the carved -frame around the gruesome pitcher of St. John the Baptist's head shows -a distinct historic style, somewhat plainer and of more recent date -than the richly carved Renaissance frame of the Adam and Eve -signboard. - -While to Hogarth the sign seemed to be an excellent medium wherewith -to increase the bitterness of his satire, the German romantic artists -of the nineteenth century, Moritz von Schwind and Spitzweg, loved to -introduce it in their pictures as a fairy element. The golden pattern -of a star sign is woven into the soft lines of their compositions: -"The Farewell," by Spitzweg, and the famous "Wedding Journey," by -Schwind, in the Schack Gallery at Munich. A friendly star is twinkling -over both the lovers who part with tears, and those who are starting -upon their journey in the dewy morning of life. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -ARTISTS AS SIGN-PAINTERS - -[Illustration: A Sign-Painter from an Engraving by Hogarth] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -ARTISTS AS SIGN-PAINTERS - - "Ou il n'y a pas d'eglise je regarde les enseignes." - - VICTOR HUGO. - - -Good old Diderot, who to-day sits so peacefully in his armchair of -bronze on the Boulevard Saint-Germain and observes with philosophical -calm the restless stream of Parisian life passing him by day and -night, was once a severe critic. We might call him the father of -critics, since he reviewed the first French Art Exhibition arranged in -the Salon carre of the Louvre. From this salon the modern French -Expositions in Paris derive their name, although they have grown into -bewildering labyrinths of art and have long ago lost the intimacy and -elegance inherent in a salon. When Diderot intended to hurt the -feelings of an exhibiting artist, he used to call him a "peintre -d'enseigne," and he was cruel enough to use this term rather -frequently with those painters "qui ne se servent de la brosse que -pour salir la toile." In the famous encyclopaedia which, together with -d'Alembert, he edited in 1779, and which brought them the honorary -title of "Encyclopedistes," he gives two definitions of the French -word for sign, "enseigne": first, a flag; and second, condescendingly, -"petit tableau pendu a une boutique." As we see, the great critic did -not appreciate sign-painters and their works very highly; and in this -respect he only shared the general opinion of the public, which liked -to poke fun at these "artistes en plein vent." - -Charlet, who usually celebrates in his lithographs the soldiers of the -great Napoleon, is the author of an amusing cartoon on our poor -sign-painters. "J'aime la couleur" is the title of the spirituel -design which leaves us in doubt which color the sign-artist really -prefers--the red on his large palette or the red of the wine in the -glass he is holding. - -In similar vein Hogarth represents him as a poor devil in rags and as -a conceited fellow evidently very proud of his mediocre work. Like his -French colleague he loves a drink in this cold, windy business of his; -at least the round bottle hanging on the frame of the signboard -contains to our mind, not varnish, but something in the Scotch -whiskey line. - -To the "Musee de la rue" his immortal works were dedicated, said a -malicious Frenchman; but after all, was this really so degrading at a -time when excellent artists did not hesitate to exhibit their work in -the open street? Monsieur Georges Cain, the director of the Carnavalet -Museum, who knows all the "Coins de Paris" so well and with whom it is -so entertaining to promenade "a travers Paris," tells us that in the -days before the Revolution the young artists who were not yet members -of the official academies used to show their paintings on the Place -Dauphine, once situated behind the Palais de Justice. If Jupiter -Pluvius did not interfere, the exhibition was arranged on the day of -the "petite Fete-Dieu." Great linen sheets were pinned over the -shop-windows and formed the background for paintings of such eminent -artists as Oudry, Boucher, Nattier, or Chardin, works of art which -to-day are considered treasures of the Louvre, as "La Raie," exhibited -by Chardin for the first time in 1728 in this museum of the street. -"Quel joli spectacle," says Cain in his "Coins de Paris," "devaient -offrir la place Dauphine, les facades roses des deux maisons -d'angle et le vieux Pont-Neuf--decor exquis, pittoresque et -charmeur--encombres d'amateurs, de badauds, de critiques, de belles -dames, d'artistes, d'aimables modeles en claire toilette, se pressant -affaires, babillards, enthousiastes, joyeux, par une douce matinee de -mai, devant les toiles fraiches ecloses des Petits Exposants de la -Place Dauphine!" - -Our respect for the "artistes en plein vent" can but increase, when we -hear that three famous painters have begun their career with the -composition of a sign: Holbein, Prud'hon, and Chardin. All kinds of -tavern anecdotes are in circulation regarding Holbein, who was rather -a gay bird in his youth. According to one of them he once got so tired -of painting the decoration of a tavern room that he concluded to -deceive the landlord, watching eagerly his work, by counterfeiting -himself standing on a scaffold before the wall busily engaged in his -work. Thus he was able to skip out and have a good time in another -tavern, while the good landlord, every time he looked through the -door, was pleased to see him ever diligently working. One of -Holbein's earliest works was a sign for a pedagogue representing a -schoolroom; this is still preserved in the Museum at Basle. - -Who would have thought that Prud'hon--the artist who dwelled in -romantic dreams, and whose wonderful creation of Psyche, borne away by -loving wind-gods, lives on, a pleasant fancy in our minds--had begun -his artistic career by painting a sign for a hatter in his native -town? This, we suppose, was the first and last time that he painted -such an unpoetical thing as a hat. Like Holbein he was just fourteen -years old at the time when he produced this picture, which likewise -has come down to us; at least it still existed when the Ecole des -Beaux-Arts in Paris arranged a Prud'hon Exhibition in 1874. - -The third great artist who gained his first success by means of a sign -was Chardin. A friend of his father, a surgeon, who did not disdain to -play the barber as a side issue had given him the order. It was not -unusual for doctors to hang out a pretty sign; if they were poetically -inclined, they ventured a little rhyme on it, as shown by this Dutch -example:-- - - "Den Chirurgijn - Vermindert de pijn - Door Gods Genade." - -For this respect the barber and hair-dressing artists showed no less -talent, as this French verse will sufficiently prove:-- - - "La Nature donne barbe et cheveux - Et moi, je les coupe tous les deux." - -Well, our "chirurgien-barbier" followed the general custom of his time -and ordered a sign. Naturally he expected Chardin to paint on it all -his knives, his trepan, and other instruments of torture, and was not -a little surprised to find something very different. The proportions -of the signboard, which was very long, twelve feet long by three feet -high, had suggested to the young artist an animated composition which -he styled "les suites d'un duel dans la rue" and for which all the -members of his family had been obliged to pose as models. Only one -part of the picture, where the wounded was carried to a surgeon's -office, referred to the business of his father's friend. Fearing, -therefore, a possible objection on his part, the artist took the -precaution to fasten the sign in the night to the doctor's house, who -was awakened in the morning by a big crowd assembled before it, -evidently admiring the chef d'Oeuvre. Unfortunately this early work -of Chardin's no longer exists. His paintings, so much more serious and -solid than the frivolities of Boucher and Lancret, the idols of the -public of his time, have only recently, in our democratic times, -received fully the appreciation they deserve. - -But the most famous of signs painted by a great artist is without -doubt the one which Watteau, in 1720, shortly before his death, made -for the art dealer Gersaint, in three days, "to limber up his stiff -old fingers." It is one of the most beautiful things Watteau ever -produced and is now in the possession of the German Kaiser. French -critics, however, think that it was executed by a pupil, from the -original sketch of the master, which has been found and which shows -more "loose qualities," to use an artist's term. However that may be, -the picture that Frederic the Great purchased through his art agent in -Paris is a beauty. A good friend of Watteau's, a Monsieur de Julienne, -the first possessor of the sign, and owner of another painted by -Watteau for Gersaint's art shop, entitled "Vertumnus and Pomona," was -very proud of this new possession, as we might judge from the fact -that he asked the engraver Aveline to engrave it with this -inscription:-- - - "Watteau, dans cette enseigne a la fleur de ses ans - Des Maistres de son art imite la maniere; - Leurs caracteres differens, - Leurs touches et leur gout composent la matiere - De ces esquisses elegans." - -These words refer to a picture gallery in Gersaint's shop which -Watteau carefully reproduces in the sign, but which to our modern eyes -is less fascinating than the elegant customers, ladies and gentlemen, -and the amusing eagerness and enthusiasm of these aristocratic -connoisseurs. - -Another sign by Watteau, the loss of which we have to deplore, was the -property of a "marchande de modes." No doubt it tempted many a -"Parisienne" to buy rather more of the charming Watteau costumes than -were strictly necessary. - -A modern French artist who sometimes has been honored with the name -"Watteau Montmartrois," the illustrator Willette, has produced in our -days the sign for the famous cabaret, the "Chat Noir" prototype of -all cabarets in France and elsewhere. Two other signs by his -master-hand, "A l'image de Notre Dame" and "A Bonaparte," may still be -seen in Paris on the Quai Voltaire and on the corner of the Rue -Bonaparte and the Rue de l'Abbaie. - -Other great French artists have painted signs occasionally: Greuze did -the "Enseigne du Huron" for a tobacco merchant--which may remind us of -the wooden Indian, guarding similar American shops in the old days; -Carle Vernet and his son Horace Vernet; Gericault, the great -sportsman, whose career as an artist was cut short by a violent fall -from a horse, is the author of the "Cheval blanc," which once adorned -a tavern in the neighborhood of Paris; Gavarni, the great -lithographer, painted a sign, "Aux deux Pierrots," and drew it later -on stone; Carolus Duran's "enseigne brossee vigoureusement sur une -plaque legerement courbee" was first exhibited in the Salon de la -Societe Nationale before it was placed over the door of a -fencing-school; and many others. - -Among the French sculptors Jean Goujon, perhaps the greatest of them, -the creator of the Fontaine des Innocents in Paris and its charmingly -graceful figures, is mentioned as the author of a sign, "La chaste -Suzanne," which once embellished a house in the Rue aux Feves. To-day -a plaster cast has been substituted for the original, bought by an art -collector. In the old streets of Paris we may still discover here and -there sculptured signs of artistic charm, such as "La Fontaine de -Jouvence" in the Rue de Four Saint-Germain, 67, and the fine relief of -the "Soleil d'or" in the Rue Saint-Sauveur. The little Bacchus riding -so gayly on a cask, who once decorated the "Cabaret du Lapin blanc," -spends to-day a rather dull existence, together with other retired -colleagues of his, in the Musee Carnavalet. Our little "Remouleur," -from the Rue des Nonains d'Hyeres, who does not fail to amply moisten -his grindstone, is not only a suggestive symbol, but in his dainty -rococo dress a very amusing piece of sculpture. - -We cannot end our chat on signs by French artists without mentioning -the name of Victor Hugo, to whom we owe so much information about the -wealth of signs that still existed at his time in France and the -countries bordering on the Rhine. He was himself a clever draughtsman -and occasionally sketched "des dessins aux enseignes enchevetrees," -reminiscences of the real signs he used to admire on his wanderings. -The following quotation may show how great was his love for signs: "A -Rhinfelden, les exuberantes enseignes d'auberge m'ont occupe comme -des cathedrales; et j'ai l'esprit fait ainsi, qu' a de certains -moments un etang de village, clair comme un miroir d'acier, entoure de -chaumieres et traverse par une flotille de canards me regale autant -que le lac de Geneve." - -[Illustration: Enseigne du Remouleur.Paris] - -Among the great Dutch masters Paulus Potter, Albert Cuyp, and -Wouwerman are cited as occasional sign-painters. Even Potter's famous -"Jonge Stier" in The Hague is claimed as a butcher's sign. It would -perhaps seem like doing too much honor to the art of sign-painting if -we numbered this remarkable work of the twenty-two-year-old artist -among them. And what beautiful white horses, bathed in mellow -sunlight, Cuyp may have painted for the "Roessle" taverns! Another -Dutch artist, Laurens van der Vinne (1629-1702), is even called the -Raphael among sign-painters. We do not know much about his work, but I -am afraid he did not take this title as a compliment. - -To find Rembrandt's great name in connection with our art seems -stranger still, but there is a tradition that copies of his -pictures--we may think of his good Samaritan arriving with the wounded -man before an inn--were used as signs. As we shall see later, his own -portrait was occasionally hung out by a patriotic and art-loving -landlord over the tavern door. - -Among English artists Hogarth, whom we already know as a keen observer -of London signs, deserves the first place. He is supposed to be the -author of a sign, not very gallant to the fair sex, called "A man -loaded with mischief." It represents a wife-ridden man. All kinds of -delicate allusions hidden in the background of the composition seem to -hint at the sad fact that this impudent woman on his back holding a -glass of gin gets sometimes "drunk as a sow." I doubt if Hogarth -engraved this plate himself; it is signed "Sorrow" as the engraver and -"Experience" as the designer. It would do little honor either to -Hogarth the man or the artist. - -All satirical art has this great deficiency, that it is hard for the -public to judge whether the satire means to combat seriously the vices -and errors of men or whether the smile of the satirist is not a smile -of complacency. But such doubts must not detain us from visiting with -good humor an exhibition of signs, the spiritual promoter of which -Hogarth seems to have been. At any rate, he contributed quite a few of -his own works under the transparent pseudonym "Hagarty." - -Bonnell Thornton, who, after a brilliant journalistic career as editor -of "The Connoisseur," "The St. James's Chronicle," and other -publications, received the greatest honor accorded to Englishmen, a -final abode in Westminster Abbey, was the originator of this curious -exhibition. Hogarth was at least on the "hanging committee." The fact -that the gates of the Signboard Exhibition were opened in the spring -of 1762, at the same time as the official Exhibition of the Society -for the Encouragement of Arts, provoked the anger of the "Brother -Artists" and was the signal for a perfect storm among the newspapers. -Furious articles stigmatized the enterprise as "the most impudent and -pickpocket Abuse that I ever knew offered to the Publick." "The best -entertainment it can afford is that of standing in the street, and -observing with how much shame in their Faces People come out of the -House. Pity it will be, if all who are employed in the carrying on -this Cheat, are not seized and sent to serve the King." In those days, -"to serve the King" was evidently a severe punishment. The -sign-painters in their turn hurried to protest their innocence and to -refute "the most malicious suggestion that their Exhibition is -designed as a Ridicule on the Exhibition of the Society for the -Encouragement of Arts. They are not in the least prompted by any mean -Jealousie to depreciate the Merits of their Brother Artists, ... their -sole View is to convince Foreigners, as well as their own blinded -Countrymen, that however inferior this Nation may be unjustly deemed -in other Branches of the Polite Arts, the Palm of Sign-Painting must -be universally ceded to Us, the Dutch themselves not excepted." The -committee even reprinted the articles and letters abusive of the -Exhibition, "thanking the critics for so successfully advertising -their efforts." - -No doubt, this exposition was a rare treat. Not only were all the -painted signs "worse executed than any that are to be seen in the -meanest streets, and the carved Figures," as one of the curious who -visited the show tells us, "the very worst of Signpost Work, but -several Tobacco Rolls, Sugar Loaves, Hats, Wigs, Stockings and Gloves, -and even a Westphalian Ham hung round the room." "The Cream of the -whole Jest," or, as the French would say, the "clou de l'exposition," -were two boards behind blue curtains with the warning inscription: -"Ladies and gentlemen are requested not to finger them, as blue -curtains are hung over in purpose to preserve them." Since it was the -custom in those days to hide pictures of too indelicate a nature in -this fashion, the ladies, of course, did not dare to gratify their -curiosity. But lascivious gentlemen who did not hesitate to lift the -curtains found only the mocking words: "Ha! Ha! Ha!" and "He! He! He!" - -The amusing catalogue of this extraordinary Exhibition has been -published in full in the Appendix of Larwood and Hotten's "History of -Signboards." It mentions many of our old acquaintances like "The -Salutation, or French and English manners"; others are new to us, as -"The Barking Dogs," "a landscape at moonlight, the moon somewhat -eclipsed by an accident." The peruke-maker's sign, "Absalom hanging," -is again an old friend of ours. But the rhyme underneath-- - - "If Absalom had not worn his own hair - Absalom had not been hanging there"-- - -seems to us not quite equal in poetical value to the following we read -somewhere else:-- - - "Oh Absalom! oh Absalom! - Oh Absalom! my son, - If thou hadst worn a periwig - Thou hadst not been undone." - -Some of Hagarty's contributions have moralizing titles--as, "The -Spirit of Contradiction," representing two brewers with a barrel of -beer, pulling different ways--which do not amuse us any more to-day. -"The Logger-Heads," or, "We are Three" (add: fools), is an old sign to -which Shakespeare alludes in his "Twelfth Night" (II, iii), where the -Fool comes between Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and, -taking each by the hand, says: "How now, my Hearts, did you never see -the picture of We Three?" In country taverns sometimes two asses were -painted on the wall, with the inscription: "We three asses." The -newcomer used to spell these words with great seriousness, to the -delight of the old customers. Another sign by Hagarty, "Death and the -Doctor," evidently goes back to the popular scenes of the "Dance of -Death" and reminds us of other gruesome signs, the above-mentioned -French signs, "La Mort qui trompe," "La Fete de Mort" in Lyon and "La -Cave des Morts" in Geneva. This physician's sign probably resembled -the rude woodcuts of the first printed editions of the "Dance of -Death" from the fifteenth century: the doctor very unwilling to follow -his colleague, "the sure Physician," as Shakespeare has called Death. -Some such picture was in the poet's mind when he wrote the words in -"Cymbeline," V, v:-- - - "By medicine life may be prolong'd, yet death - Will seize the doctor too." - -This exhibition of Signboards inspired by Hogarth was the first and -most amusing of its kind. More than one hundred years later an -"Exposition Nationale des Enseignes parlantes artistiques" was -arranged in Brussels with one hundred and forty-one different signs, -and in 1902 the Prefet de la Seine organized in the City Hall of Paris -a great "Concours d'Enseignes." Both represent serious and idealistic -efforts to improve the artistic side of trade-signs, and by this means -to ennoble the picture of the street so often disfigured by vulgar -advertisements. Well-known artists, as the sculptors Derve and -Moreau-Vauthier, the painters Willette, Bellery-Desfontaines, Felix -Regamey, and the popular collaborator of "Le Rire," Albert Guilleaume, -contributed to this exhibition and thus stimulated their colleagues to -work for the Museum of the Street. Henri Detaille, the famous painter -of battle scenes and pupil of Meissonier, was the spiritual author of -the competition. In a letter to Grand-Carteret, the writer of a great, -luxurious publication on the signs of Lyon, he had expressed the hope -to educate and refine the artistic instinct of the masses through this -medium of noble signs: "L'enseigne amusera la foule: rien n'empeche -meme qu'elle soit instructive tout en restant une tres pure oeuvre -d'art." He ends his letter with the following lines that give credit -to his good heart and his sympathy for the common people: "Que les -enseignes les plus belles les plus artistiques aillent surtout dans -les quartiers pauvres, populeux et prives, de toute manifestation -d'art." If we reflect that indeed the posters often are the only -touches of brightness in the gray monotony of the poor quarters, we -will heartily join Detaille in the wish that these posters might be -pure and noble creations of art. Certain German posters, lithographed -by such artists as Cissarz, seem to approach this ideal. The recent -German War-Poster, "Gedenket Eurer Dichter und Denker," may find an -honorable mention in this connection. - -In England the advice Detaille gave to the artists "a reprendre la -tradition" has never been entirely forgotten, and even to the present -day well-known artists have not disdained to paint signs occasionally. -But before we enter the amiable society of contemporary artists we -will show due honor to the great master Grinling Gibbons, who, so to -speak, is an honorary member of the Sign-Makers' Guild. To no visitor -of London is the name of this sculptor unfamiliar. His master-hand -carved the choir stalls in St. Paul's Cathedral and many elaborate -wood-sculptures in royal castles. One of his works is the famous -golden cock in "Ye Olde Cock Tavern" in Fleet Street. When the old -house was torn down to make room for a branch office of the Bank of -England, the noble bird was obliged to move across the street, where -he now occupies the seat of honor in a large and rather dull room. I -am sure he would prefer to roost in the little paneled room, up -another flight, where Tennyson wrote the poem that made the creature -immortal. - -[Illustration: .THE.GOAT.IN.KENSINGTON.] - -Among the living English artists who painted signs we may mention -Nicholson and Pryde, both experts in the art of the poster. Our -illustration "The Goat," which hangs out on High Street, No. 3, in -London, is attributed to them, but even the greatest admirer of -Nicholson's woodcuts will not find it worth while to pay a visit to -this unattractive ale-house. There is more charm in "The Rowing -Barge," a signed work of G. D. Leslie, member of the Royal Academy, in -Wallingford on the Thames, where we found it in the neighborhood of -the old Norman Church of St. Leonhard. - -It took even two Academicians, Leslie and L. E. Hodgson, to produce -the "George and Dragon" sign in Wargrave, a fascinating little place -buried amidst the greenery of giant trees. The damp climate has -effaced and darkened the sign considerably; the owner of the inn has -therefore taken it in and placed it on the garden side of the house, -under the protection of a balcony. Wargrave has a few other remarkable -signs, such as the one of the "Bull Inn," which seems to be inspired -by the beautiful picture of young Potter. - -But not the least beautiful among signs are the works of unknown -artists. All the admirable signs in forged iron, from the eighteenth -century and the beginning of the nineteenth, in southern Germany, -belong to this group. Benno Ruettenauer, to whom we are indebted in -many ways, has praised these pure works of art in an article on -"Swabian Tavern Signs": "They are a joy to the eye and caress it as -the melody of a folk-song caresses the ear." From what invisible -sources springs their beauty? we ask, just as we do before the great, -miraculous flowers of Gothic cathedrals rising mysteriously from the -plain cornfields of northern France. Simple artisans were their -inventors and creators, men who dared to let their own ideas grow in -the free play of glowing, flexible iron, not yet disturbed by -pattern-books and school wisdom. - -More beautiful still than these are the eternal signs with which -Mother Nature, the only real teacher of all true artists, invites the -weary pilgrim to rest: the moon, the gentle shining stars, and the -blossoming trees under whose perfumed branches we sleep so sweetly. -This is the oldest inn; the Germans call it "Bei Mutter Gruen," and the -French speak similarly of "loger a l'enseigne de la lune"; "coucher a -l'enseigne de la belle etoile." Nobody has sung the charms of this -natural inn more sweetly than the Swabian poet Uhland in his song, -"Bei einem Wirte wundermild," which we beg permission to quote in W. -W. Skeat's happy translation:-- - - "A kind and gentle host was he - With whom I stayed but now; - His sign a golden apple was - That dangled from a bough. - - "Yea! 't was a goodly apple-tree - With whom I late did rest; - With pleasant food and juices fresh - My parching mouth he blest. - - "There entered in his house so green - Full many a light-winged guest; - They gaily frisked and feasted well - And blithely sang their best. - - "I found a couch for sweet repose - Of yielding verdure made; - The host himself, he o'er me spread - His cool and grateful shade. - - "Then asked I what I had to pay, - Whereat his head he shook; - O blest be he for evermore - From root to topmost nook!" - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE SIGN IN POETRY - -[Illustration: Zum Goldnen Hirsch Leonberg, Wuerttemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE SIGN IN POETRY - - "Er ging nicht in den Krug, - Er wohnte gar darinnen." - - JOACHIM RACHEL. - - -Like a prophetic star the sign seems to stand over the birth-house of -many a poet. Or shall we not agree with Chateaubriand who saw in the -eagle on the house in Bread Street, London, where Milton was born, an -"augure et symbole"? And is it not a curious coincidence that the -greatest French comedy-writer was born "a l'enseigne du Pavillon des -Cinges dans la Rue des Etuves Saint-Honore" in Paris? One of the most -ingenious reconstructions of Robida (the architect of Vieux Paris, -never to be forgotten by any visitor of the Parisian World's Fair of -1900) was this birthplace of Moliere's that took its name from the -mighty corner-beam, covered with carved monkeys. Truly, Milton had -hoped less from the eagle on his father's house than from the gentle -star of Venus under which he was born. In his family Bible, one of -the many autograph treasures of the British Museum, he has registered -his birth with his own hand: "John Milton was born the 9th of -December, 1608, die Veneris, half an hour after 6 in the morning." It -availed him little to be born on the day of Venus, and the promise -given to the "children of Venus" by an old German calendar of 1489, -"They shall sing joyfully and free from care," was not fulfilled in -his life. His marriage was an unhappy one. Taine said of him: "Ni les -circonstances ni la nature l'avaient fait pour le bonheur." But the -eagle on the house of his childhood proved to be a true symbol of his -great future, for like an eagle he soared to the highest heights of -poetical creation. Schiller was born in Marbach in the neighboring -house to the "Golden Lion," whose landlord his grandfather had been. - -Considering that all houses in earlier times were distinguished by -such symbols, even the most pious could not help being born under a -sign. Calvin, the French Puritan, was even born in an inn, the "grasse -hotellerie des Quatre Nations" at Noyen in Picardy. On the other hand, -merry souls seem to have preferred saints as patrons of their -birthplace, for Gavarni, the ingenious cartoonist, came into the world -at Paris "a l'enseigne de Sainte Opportune, Rue des Vieilles -Haudriettes." - -Sometimes Fate seems to mock the highflying ambitions of a great poet, -by changing the house of his birth into a common public-house, as -happened in the case of Chateaubriand, "the gentilhomme ne" and his -birthplace in the Rue des Juifs at Saint-Malo. On the other hand, -Rabelais's birthplace in Chinon, which became a tavern after his -death, should have been one from the first hour of his life; for his -was like the "etrange nativite" of his hero Gargantua: "Soubdain qu'il -fut ne, ne cria comme les aultres enfans: 'Mies, mies'; mais a haulte -voix s'escrioit: 'A boire, a boire, a boire!' comme invitant tout le -monde a boire." A little poem tells us the story how his study was -transformed into a wine-cellar for merry revelers:-- - - "La chacun dit sa chansonette - La le plus sage est le plus fou - - * * * * * - - La cave s'y trouve placee - Ou fut jadis le cabinet, - On n'y porte plus sa pensee - Qu'aux douceurs d'un vin frais et net." - -The oldest poetical tradition of tavern signs we find, perhaps, in the -songs of Villon, who sometimes has been called the Paul Verlaine of -the fifteenth century, on account of his similar vicissitudes in life. -A child of the people, he is not ashamed of his low origin:-- - - "Sur les tumbeaux de mes ancestres - Les ames desquels Dieu embrasse, - On n'y voyt couronnes ne sceptres." - -Living the life of the common people, he mingles freely with them, and -in his wordly poems many a tavern adventure is told with zest. As a -roaming scholar he wanders from place to place and, having rarely a -penny in his purse, he acquires easily the art of dining without -paying:-- - - "C'est bien trompe, qui rien ne paye, - Et qui peut vivre d'advantaige, - Sans debourser or ne monnoye - En usant de joyeux langaige." - -And although he arrives at the tavern door riding shank's mare, poor -devil that he is,-- - - "Il va a pied, par faulte d'asne,"-- - -he is rich in fascinating stories to win the landlord's favors and to -secure ample credit. Full of self-assurance, he demands always the -best of everything, "boire ypocras a jour et a nuyctee" (day and night -to sip Hypokras), one of Falstaff's various favorite drinks. - -Curious sign-names Villon mentions; as, the tin plate,-- - - "le cas advint an Plat d'estain,"-- - -or, the golden mortar ("le mortier d'or"), and even "the pestle." The -mortar was really a chemist's sign. To-day, even, we may see, in a -little French provincial town over the door of a druggist, a bear -diligently braying some wholesome herb, in a mortar, an "Ours qui -pile." - - "Or advint, environ midy, - Qu'il estoit de faim estourdy; - S'en vint a une hostellerie - Rue de la Mortellerie, - Ou pend l'enseigne du Pestel - A bon logis et bon hostel; - Demandant s'en a que repaistre. - Ouy vraiment, ce dist le maistre, - Ne soyez de rien en soucy - Car vous serez tres bien servy, - De pain, de vin et de viande." - -The animal kingdom is represented by the mule, "la Mulle," an inn -frequented by Rabelais, too, the red donkey ("un asne rouge"), and -the white horse that, like all the painted horses, had the bad habit -of never moving ("le cheval blanc qui ne bouge"). We have seen above -that the "White Horse" was popular in Italy, too, although an old -Italian proverb pretends that it is just as capricious as a beautiful -woman and a source of continual annoyances:-- - - "Chi ha cavallo bianco e belle moglie - Non e mai senza doglie." - -The most famous of all the cabarets immortalized by Villon is "le trou -de la Pomme de Pin," as he usually calls it. In the "Repues Franches," -from which we quoted the story of the Hotel du Pestel we read:-- - - "Et vint a la Pomme de Pin - - * * * * * - - Demandant s'ils avoient du bon vin, - Et qu'on luy emplist du plus fin - Mais qu'il fust blanc et amoureux." - -We see that our poet-tramp hated adulteraters of wine ("les taverniers -qui brouillent nostre vin") not less sincerely than his old Roman -colleague Horace. In his older days he regretted the dissipation of -his youth, sadly reflecting upon what a comfortable age he could have -now if ... - - "J'eusse maison et couche molle! - Mais quoy? je fuyoye l'escolle, - Comme faict le mauvays enfant.... - En escrivant cette parole - A peu que le cueur ne me fend." - -The tavern of the "Pomme de Pin" stood near the Madeleine Church--not -the famous one we all know, but an old building in the "cite," Rue de -la Lanterne, which was pulled down in the time of the Revolution. -Rabelais loved the place and praised this pineapple higher than the -golden apple that young Paris once gave to Venus, thus creating -endless troubles among men and gods:-- - - "La Pomme de Pin qui vaut mieux - Que celle d'or, dont fut troublee - Toute la divine assemblee." - -Sainte-Beuve has called this tavern, connected with so many proud -names in French literature, "la veritable taverne litteraire, le vrai -cabaret classique," a title which to-day is deserved by the "Cabaret -du Chat Noir," the creation of such gifted artists as Henri Riviere, -Willette, and, last but not least, Steinlen, the painter of its sign. - -Next in literary celebrity stands "La Croix de Lorraine," where -Moliere used to relax from his strenuous life as poet and actor and -get merry over the blinking glass, "assez pour vers le soir etre en -goguettes." Among the guests ponderous Boileau sometimes appeared, -although he seems to have taken his admonition in the "Art poetique," -"connaissez la ville," rather seriously and to have made quite -extensive studies of the Parisian public-houses. We find him in the -"Diable," who had his quarters in those days very near the Sainte -Chapelle, and in "La Tete Noire," a counterpart of "The Golden Head" -in Malines where Duerer lodged on his journey through the Netherlands. - -It would be amusing to count how many immortal works have been created -over a tavern table. Have we not heard that in our days Mascagni wrote -the incomparable overture to his "Cavalleria Rusticana" on the little -marble table of a modern cafe? Racine is supposed to have written his -"Plaideurs" on the tavern table of the "Mouton Blanc" in Paris, and -this happy circumstance seems to have affected his style very -agreeably and to have made the play easier for a modern reader than -the solemn dramas which are so difficult to enjoy if one does not -happen to be a Frenchman. How attractive a place this "Mouton Blanc" -was we might imagine from the little rhyme:-- - - "Ah! que n'ai-je pour sepulture - Les Deux Torches ou le Mouton!" - -What gifted fathers earned through tavern creations the prodigal sons -sometimes lost again in gambling. Louis Racine spent the little -fortune his father had left him in the "Epee de bois," the same place -where the comedy-writer Marivaux once gambled away his paternal -heritage, regaining it soon, to be sure, by new and charming -productions. It is mostly the stimulating company of comrades and -fellow-artists, the freedom from petty household cares, that draws the -poet to a quiet tavern corner; but sometimes, too, a charming landlady -is the attractive force which may become so irresistible as to bind -him forever in marriage bonds. Maybe, too, the tavern-bill was growing -so hopelessly big that the poor dreamer saw no other solution. This -was the reason why La Serre married the landlady of the "Trois ponts -d'or," it being understood that "contrat de mariage valait quittance -alors entre cabaretiere et poete," as Michel-Fournier expresses the -matter. - -The tender relationship between the landlady and the poet-guest has -given birth to numerous songs, from which we select the famous German -Lied by Rudolf Baumbach: - - "Angethan hat mir's dein Wein - Deiner Aeuglein heller Schein - Lindenwirtin, du junge!" - -and the not less charming poem of Moliere's successor, Dancourt, -composed in honor of the landlady of the "Cabaret du petit pere -noire":-- - - "Si tu veux sans suite et sans bruit - Noyer tous tes ennuis et boire a ta maitresse, - Viens, je sais un reduit - Inaccessible a la tristesse - La nous serons servis de la main d'une hotesse - Plus belle que l'astre qui luit, - Et melant au bon vin quelque peu de tendresse, - Contents du jour, nous attendrons la nuit." - -The classical literary tavern of England was without doubt "The -Mermaid Tavern," once situated in Bread Street not far from Milton's -birthplace. Here the famous club, founded by Ben Jonson, in 1603, -assembled, among them the immortal Shakespeare. The fascination of -this mermaid was still in the nineteenth century so great as to -inspire Keats with his charming "Lines on the Mermaid Tavern," which -we feel inclined to quote in full from Anning Bell's illustrated -edition, where it stands under a graceful reconstruction of the -sign:-- - - "Souls of Poets dead and gone, - What Elysium have ye known, - Happy field or mossy cavern, - Choicer than the _Mermaid Tavern_? - Have ye tippled drink more fine - Than mine host's Canary wine? - Or are fruits of Paradise - Sweeter than those dainty pies - Of venison? O generous food! - Drest as though bold Robin Hood - Would, with his maid Marian, - Sup and browse from horn and can. - - "I have heard that on a day - Mine host's sign-board flew away - Nobody knew whither, till - An astrologer's old quill - To a sheepskin gave the story, - Said he saw you in your glory, - Underneath a new-old sign - Sipping beverage divine, - And pledging with contented smack - The Mermaid in the Zodiak. - - "Souls of Poets dead and gone, - What Elysium have ye known, - Happy fields or mossy cavern, - Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?" - -Truly a capricious wind has carried away the old Mermaid sign into far -and unknown regions, and to-day the scholars are disputing where -really the famous house stood. - -Two other taverns, less roughly handled by Father Time, may claim to -be next in literary rank: "The Cheshire Cheese" and "The Cock," both -in Fleet Street. "Ye olde Cheshire Cheese," or simply "The Cheese," is -not easy to find because it really stands on a narrow side-lane, the -Wine Office Court. It has the great advantage of having preserved -unchanged the character of a seventeenth-century tavern. Although -venerable, it is not the original building, which was destroyed, -together with many other public-houses in the great fire of 1666. -Pious souls saw in the fact that the conflagration started in Pudding -Lane and ended at Pie Corner an evident proof that the fire was sent -from Heaven as punishment for "the sin of gluttony." Shakespeare is -said to have turned in not unfrequently at the old house of the -"Cheshire Cheese" on his way to the Blackfriars' Theatre in the -Playhouse Yard, Ludgate Hill, where he was director for a time, or -coming back for a twilight drink after the performance, which in -those times closed as early as five o'clock. In spite of the warning -fire of 1666 the sin of gluttony is still readily committed in the -"Cheshire Cheese," whose specialty, a meat pudding,--containing not -only roast beef, kidneys, and oysters, but sky-larks too!--might even -be called a sin against the holy ghost of poetry. Once immersed in -this pudding the divine singers are silent forever without the -consolation of the children's book:-- - - "And when the pie was opened - The birds began to sing." - -Some of these lark puddings are even shipped to Yankeeland, which -sends every year countless pilgrims to the "Cheshire Cheese." If -possible, the American father of a family will take the seat of Dr. -Samuel Johnson, the famous lexicographer, lean his head against the -old paneling, which clearly shows the marks of the greasy wigs of the -Doctor and his friend Oliver Goldsmith, and look at chick and child -with an Olympian air, as if he wanted to say: "I am Sir Oracle, and -when I ope my mouth let no dog bark." - -Among the guests and visitors at this "house of antique ease" we find -many famous names beside Johnson and the author of the "Vicar of -Wakefield," who dwelt in the neighboring house, No. 6, Wine Office -Court; men like Swift, Addison, Sheridan, Pope, even Voltaire, who -must have felt rather out of place in this atmosphere of beefsteak and -ale. Among modern poets Thackeray and Dickens are foremost,--Dickens -who has studied so intimately the taverns and inns of his country. -Under the spell of these souls of poets dead and gone, writers of the -present generation love to gather here in literary clubs, such as the -Johnson Club, which has adopted as its device the Doctor's classical -definition of the word "club": "An assembly of good fellows meeting -under certain conditions." Johnson, who spent almost all his life in -taverns, favored not only "The Cheese" with his presence, but others, -too, as "The Mitre," in whose dark coffee-room Hawthorne once dined. -This old house has entirely vanished from the ground, just as the -still older inn "The Devil"--who, following his old custom of settling -near a church, had established himself opposite St. Dunstan's. Thus -we no longer "go to The Devil," but if we have some serious business -on hand we may step into "Child's Bank," which stands exactly on his -former spot. - -How important a role the waiters played in these old taverns we may -realize from the fact that the portraits of two former head waiters -decorate the walls of "The Cheshire Cheese." Tennyson has celebrated -another of these dignitaries in a long poem written in the Cock -Tavern, beginning in this classical fashion:-- - - "O plump head-waiter at The Cock, - To which I most resort, - How goes the time? 'T is five o'clock. - Go fetch a pint of port; - But let it not be such as that - You set before chance-comers, - But such whose father-grape grew fat - On Lusitanian summers." - -Dreaming over his glass of wine the poet sees in a sudden vision the -prototype of the cock who once brought the head-waiter as a round -country boy to the city, to the great bewilderment of his church-tower -colleagues who witnessed his audacious flight:-- - - "His brothers of the weather stood - Stock-still for sheer amazement." - -The description of this legendary cock, inspired evidently by the -beautiful work of Gibbon's master-hand, still to be seen in the modern -Cock Tavern in Fleet Street, might well be called classical, and shall -not be withheld from our readers:-- - - "The Cock was of a larger egg - Than modern poultry drop, - Stept forward on a firmer leg, - And cramm'd a plumper crop, - Upon an ampler dunghill trod, - Crow'd lustier late and early, - Sipt wine from silver, praising God, - And raked in golden barley." - -Everybody who knows and loves the Swabian poet Moerike, the music for -whose songs, composed by Hugo Wolff, have become the property of the -international brotherhood of music-lovers, will think of his "Old -Church-Tower Cock," strangely similar in feeling to Tennyson's poem of -"The Cock" and his brothers of the weather. - -We are not surprised to find that the poets of the land of Wanderlust -give special attention to taverns and signs. Besides Moerike, and -Uhland, whose "Inn" we quoted above, Johann Peter Hebel, a son of the -Black Forest, has always shown a special predilection for the sign and -its wonders. In an untranslatable poem, "On the death of a tippler," -he celebrates his man as a diligent astronomer who never tires looking -for shining "Stars," a brave knight always ready to hunt up "Bears" -and "Lions," a pious Christian willing to do penitence at the "Cross," -a man who frequented the best society, including "The Three Kings," -his most intimate friends. - -Germany may boast, too, of a classical literary tavern, the -"Bratwurstgloeckle" in Nuremberg, built directly against the walls of a -church, the Gothic Moritz-Kapelle. Among its famous guests were the -Mastersinger, Hans Sachs, and Duerer, Germany's greatest artist. Like -a house out of a fairy tale it stands before us; we are only surprised -that no fence of sausages surrounds it and that its door and window -shutters are ordinary wood and not gingerbread! - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -POLITICAL SIGNS - -[Illustration: The King of Wuerttemberg Stuttgart] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -POLITICAL SIGNS - - "Au-dessus de ma tete, Charles Quint, Joseph II ou Napoleon - pendus a une vieillie potence en fer et faisant enseigne, grands - empereurs qui ne sont plus bons qu'a achalander une auberge." - - VICTOR HUGO, _Le Rhin_. - - -At the first glance our peaceful sign seems to have nothing to do with -politics whatsoever, except perhaps in so far as under its symbol the -Philistines assemble, not only to drink and be merry, but, as a -side-issue, to solve the world's problems. The contrast of human -strife and battle outside, somewhere in distant lands, with the -undisturbed comfort of the tap-room has been for ages one of the chief -fascinations of the tavern, and none has described this selfish -attitude of the Philistine more graphically than Goethe in the -conversation of the two citizens in his "Faust":-- - - "On Sundays, holidays, there's naught I take delight in, - Like gossiping of war, and war's array. - When down in Turkey, far away, - The foreign people are a-fighting. - One at the window sits, with glass and friends, - And sees all sorts of ships go down the river gliding: - And blesses then, as home he wends - At night, our times of peace abiding." - -This opinion the other citizen, who reminds us curiously of certain -modern neutrals, approves with the following words:-- - - "Yes, Neighbor! that's my notion too: - Why, let them break their heads, let loose their passions, - And mix things madly through and through, - So, here, we keep our good old fashions!" - -This seems about all the political wisdom the tavern sign has to -suggest; but if we investigate more closely the varying forms and -continual changes of the sign we shall discover in its evolution -nothing less than a little history of civilization in pictures. Every -great event in the world's history finds its echo in some -transformation of the sign, that proves itself a sensitive indicator -for the popular valuation of leading men and important occurrences. In -the eagle-names of the Roman signs we seem to hear the conquering -wings of the Roman eagles soaring over the world, and on the Cymbrian -shield over the cocktavern on the Forum we read the pride of the -victorious Roman soldier. - -In our chapter on "Heraldic Signs" we recognized the relationship -between the landlords and the ruling powers. The swinging sign of a -"crown" means the rule of kings, and thankful subjects who enjoy the -peace secured by their monarch and the comfort of settling down in -"The Crown" to a blessed meal. It means good times, efficient -landlords and easy food-supply, if you get such an excellent and -abundant dinner as Heine was offered on his wanderings through the -Harz by the tavern-keeper of "The Crown" in Klausthal: "My repast -consisted of spring-green parsley-soup, violet-blue cabbage, a pile of -roast veal which resembled Chimborazo in miniature and a sort of -smoked herrings, called Bueckings from their inventor William Buecking, -who died in 1447, and who, on account of the invention, was so greatly -honored by Charles V that the great monarch in 1556 made a journey -from Middleburg to Bievlied in Zealand for the express purpose of -visiting the grave of the great fishdrier. How exquisitely such dishes -taste when we are familiar with their historical associations!" - -[Illustration: Degerloch] - -And do not the kings themselves appear on the sign? The "Three Kings" -were originally the "Wise Men" from the East. How the Catholic Church -came to represent them as kings we read in Fischart's quaint old -German of his amusing "Bienenkorb" of 1580: "Und das sie weiter auss -den treien Weisen aus Morgenland trei Koenig gemacht hat und den eynen -so Bechschwarz als eynen Moren, ist aus den Weissagungen Salomonis -oder Davids gefischet, die da sagen, dass die Koenig aus Morenland -Christum anzubeten kommen werden." The East, the land of the morn, -was thus confused with the land of the Moors which we should rather -seek to the south of Bethlehem. On "Three Kings' Day," of course, the -taverns of this name were scenes of special merriment, the good -Catholics joyfully shouting, "The King drinks." "The three gentlemen," -as Carlyle calls them disrespectfully, are buried in the Cologne -Cathedral, but their memory is honored still by many a visitor of a -"Three Kings" tavern in good Rhenish wine which our forefathers called -the theological wine. We find the sign of the famous travelers from -distant lands especially on the great roads of commerce leading from -Italy over the Alps, so in Augsburg and Basle. Originally a royalist -symbol of the landlord's loyalty to monarchy, of his eagerness to -serve crowned guests if fortune should lead them his way, it was -changed in the times of the Revolution to the democratic "Three -Moors," and the first landlord who is said to have deprived his three -kings of their crowns was the landlord in Basle. Maybe time helped him -to make this change, slowly wearing away the gilded glitter of the -crowns and darkening the kings to black-a-moors. To-day the famous -house in Augsburg, where Charles V once lodged as guest of the rich -banker Fugger for more than a year, is called "Three Moors." The -traveler still may see the big fireplace in which the generous -merchant burned all the imperial promissory notes. - -But whatever the explanation of this "Three Moors'" sign may be, there -can be no doubt that the Revolution had a noticeable influence on -signs in general. The inn "Zum Rosenkrantz" in Strassburg was called -after 1790 "A la couronne civile," to please the rationalistic -worshipers of the "Supreme Being," and countless king-signs were sold -as old iron. Sebastien Mercier, in his "Tableau de Paris," has given a -merciless report of this great catastrophe which swept away so many of -the signs which we have learned to respect and to love: "Chez les -marchands de ferrailles du quai de la Megisserie, sont des magazins de -vieilles enseignes, propre a decorer l'entree de tous les cabarets et -tabagies des faubourgs et de la banlieu de Paris. La tous les rois de -la terre dorment ensemble: Louis XVI et Georges III se baisent -fraternellement; le roi de Prusse couche avec l'imperatrice de -Russie, l'empereur est de niveau avec les electeurs; la enfin la tiare -et le turban se confonde. Un cabaretier arrive, remue avec le pied -toutes ces tetes couronnees, les examine, prend au hasard la figure du -roi de Pologne, l'emporte et ecrit dessous: Au grand vainqueur. Un -autre gargotier demande une imperatrice; il veut que sa gorge soit -boursouflee, et le peintre, sortant de la taverne voisine, fait -present d'une gorge rebondie a toutes les princesses d'Europe. Le meme -peintre coiffe d'une couronne de laurier une tete de Louis XV lui ote -sa perruque et sa bourse, et voila, un Cesar.--Toutes ces figures -royales ont d'etranges physionomies et font eternellement la moue a la -populace qui les regarde. Aucun de ces souverains ne sourit au peuple, -meme en peinture; ils out tous l'air hagard ou burlesque, des yeux -erailles, un nez de travers, une bouche enorme...." - -We see those were bad days for kings, even for painted ones. If the -landlord had Jacobin blood in his veins he would not content himself -with such harmless changes as removing the painted crowns. He would -call his tavern no longer "Le Roi Maure," but forthwith "Le Roi -Mort," and on the sign the picture of the dead king Louis XVI would -testify to his stanch republicanism. Or he would choose as sign-hero -Brutus the famous regicide. Dickens has introduced us to such a -tavern, "The good Republican Brutus," in the "Tale of Two Cities," and -his picture of the place, although in a book of fiction, shows clearly -the colors of historical truth: "It had a quieter look than any other -place of the same description they had passed, and though red with -patriotic caps was not so red as the rest." The guests were a rather -suspicious-looking crowd. One workman with bare breast and arms reads -aloud the latest terrible news to the rest who listen attentively. All -are armed, some have laid their weapons aside to be resumed, if -needed. In the classical chapter "The Wine-Shop," where he describes -the hopeless misery of the poor people crowded together in the narrow -streets of the St. Antoine quarter, he sees even in the merchants' -signs symbols of misery or threats of future atrocities: "The -trade-signs (and they were almost as many as the shops) were all grim -illustrations of Want. The butcher and the porkman painted up, only -the leanest scraps of meat, the baker the coarsest of meager loaves. -The people rudely pictured as drinking in the wine-shops croaked over -their scanty measures of thin wine and beer.... Nothing was -represented in a flourishing condition, save tools and weapons; but -the cutler's knives and axes were sharp and bright, the smith's -hammers were heavy, and the gunmaker's stock was murderous." - -It was in a tavern in Varennes that the fate of Louis XVI was sealed. -Here the fugitive king was arrested and forced to go back to Paris to -pay with his blood the debt of sins which his ancestors had -accumulated. "Forty-eight years after the royal coach was stopped in -this town," says Victor Hugo, "I saw hanging from an old iron bracket -the picture of Louis Philippe with the inscription: 'Au grand -Monarque.'" Nowhere do we observe quicker changes than in governments -and tavern signs, remarks the German tramp-poet Seume; and Victor Hugo -indulges in similar reflections, passing in review the signs of the -last one hundred years from Louis XV to Bonaparte and Charles X: -"Louis XVI s'est peut-etre arrete au Grand Monarque, et s'est vu la -peint en enseigne, roi en peinture lui-meme.--Pauvre 'Grand -Monarque?'" he exclaims in pathetic pity. This supposition of Hugo's, -however, is not correct, as we learn from Carlyle, who, scrutinizing -with the prophetic vision of a poet the darkness of the past, -possessed at the same time the exactness and sincerity of a true -historian and who has given us, based on a personal visit to the -locality, the following description of the nocturnal scene: "The -village of Varennes lies dark and slumberous, a most unlevel Village -of inverse saddle-shape, as men write. It sleeps; the rushing of the -River Aire singing lullaby to it. Nevertheless from the Golden Arm, -Bras d'or Tavern across that sloping Marketplace, there still comes -shine of social light...." - -Even the American Revolution left its traces on the tavern signs of -the Yankeeland. The old Baptist pastor and Professor of Theology, -Galusha Anderson, who has given us, in his charming book, "When -Neighbors were Neighbors," in his simple way a kind of social history -of the early United States, mentions signs that he saw in his youth -"where the English red-coats were represented flying before our -revolutionary forefathers." And Washington Irving has given us, in his -"Rip Van Winkle," a classical example of the political changes the -signboard had to undergo. When this curious dreamer and unhappy -husband, after many years of mysterious absence, came back to his -native village, nothing perhaps surprised him so much as to find on -the old tavern the strange words, "The Union Hotel, by Jonathan -Doolittle," and to see even the good old sign strangely altered: "He -recognised on the sign, however, the ruby face of King George, under -which he had smoked so many a peaceful pipe; but even this was -singularly metamorphosed. The red coat was changed for one of blue and -buff, a sword was held instead of a sceptre, the head was decorated -with a cocked hat, and underneath was painted in large characters, -General Washington." Thus he received from the signboard the necessary -instruction on the great changes that had taken place during his -absence, how his country had developed from an English Colony to a -free Republic. - -There are still a few signs in existence that might give us an idea -how such old American signs probably looked. We refer especially to -the "Governor Hancock" sign in the old Boston State House and a couple -of amusing signs in the little historical museum at Lexington. - -In its long political career the sign was not spared the humiliation -of being used as gallows. One of the first victims of the French -Revolution was Foulon. He was charged with making the people eat -grass; and now a raging mob forced into his dead mouth the food he had -proposed for others. According to tradition this old sinner was -hanged to a lantern on the corner of the Place de la Greve and the Rue -de la Vannerie. But this is contradicted by such an old Parisian as -Victorien Sardou, who says that Foulon was hanged to a sign which, as -he remembers well from his childhood days, was still to be seen, under -Louis Philippe, although nobody really seemed to give attention to it -in those days of Romanticism. - -Another gruesome story we are told by Macaulay, how under James II, -after the defeat of the unhappy Duke of Monmouth, the partisans of the -pretender were suspended from a signpost before a tavern in Taunton by -order of a certain Colonel Percy Kirke. "They were not suffered even -to take leave of their nearest relations. The signpost of the White -Hart Inn served for a gallows. It is said that the work of death went -on in sight of the windows where the officers of the Tangier regiment -were carousing, and that at every health a wretch was turned off. When -the legs of the dying men quivered in the last agony, the colonel -ordered the drums to strike up. He would give the rebels, he said, -music to their dancing. The tradition runs that one of the captives -was not even allowed the indulgence of a speedy death. Twice he was -suspended from the signpost, and twice cut down. Twice he was asked if -he repented of his treason, and twice he replied that if the deed were -to do again, he would do it. Then he was tied up for the last time." - -The Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor Jeffreys, who continued the work -of persecution against the partisans of the Duke of Monmouth,--the man -whose Bloody Assizes will not be easily forgotten in England,--once -nearly paid with his life the foolish desire to climb up on a signpost -in a happy hour of complete intoxication. After a wild orgy in company -with the Lord Treasurer, he and his companion decided to undress until -they were "almost stark naked" and to drink the king's health from the -airy height of a signpost. Jeffreys took a severe cold and alarmed not -a little the king, who feared the irreparable loss of such a valuable -servant. - -After the uncanny stories of the signpost's function as a gallows, we -find a certain comfort in hearing that the sign occasionally offered a -refuge to persecuted political offenders. In the days of the -Corsican, the partisans of the Bourbons, called by the beautiful name -of "Chouans," were happy to find such a refuge, "une cache fameuse," -behind the big sign of the perfumer Caron. The persecuted Chouan had -only to step out through a window and to close the blinds behind him -and he was perfectly safe against the detectives of Fouche, the chief -of the police. If the fugitive, however, made a blunder and stepped by -mistake into the barber shop of M. Teissier, he was undone; because -this was the man who had the honor of shaving the Caesarean face of -Napoleon. - -Before the French Revolution another great event in the world's -history had produced considerable changes on the signboard--the -Reformation. We have already noticed how the new ideas and motives of -the Renaissance influenced, not only the sculptured frame of the sign, -but created new forms, such as the Dolphin, the Siren, the Pegasus, -the Sagittary, Fortuna, Apollo, Phoenix, Minerva, Hercules, Castor -and Pollux, Bacchus, all favorite themes of this classical period. The -discovery of America at the same time brought the "Wild Man" into -great popularity, and the newly introduced tobacco, "the filthy weed," -caused the creation of countless Indian and Huron signs, -"black-a-moors and other dusky foreigners." - -The Reformation itself had a more negative effect on the sign. It -tried to eliminate or to change the old saint signs. Cromwell in -England declaimed against Catholic-sounding tavern names. "St. -Catherine and Wheel" was changed to "Cat and Wheel," and degenerated -further into "Cat and Fiddle," a sign still popular in England and -celebrated in the famous children's rhyme:-- - - "Heigh diddle diddle, - The cat and the fiddle." - -On some signs the fiddling cat inspires with its music a cow to jump -in ecstasy over a grinning moon. Thus we see everywhere the old -religious motives and symbols turned into ridicule and blasphemy. This -process began at the end of the Middle Ages, as the study of -miniatures and of cathedral sculptures will amply prove. We cannot be -surprised, therefore, to find such anti-papal signs as "Le cochon -mitre" in Compiegne. The mediaeval illuminators and sculptors loved to -"hommifier" the swine and to attack under this disguise hypocritical -and voluptuous priests. In the "Doctrinal rurale" of Pierre Michault -of 1486 (in the National Library at Paris), we see a fat monk in the -pedagogue's chair, representing "concupiscence," and evidently making -such shocking remarks that his girl pupils put their fingers in their -ears, while in the delicate framework of the miniature a preaching -swine reveals the real character of this strange teacher. - -The touching scene of the "Salutatio," which inspired the artists of -the Renaissance with such noble creations as Donatello's marble relief -in Florence, is degraded now to a ridiculous bowing and scraping -between a lady and her partner or between two stylish gentlemen. The -fanatical Puritans who thundered even against the harmless Christmas -customs, so dear to the people, of course took offense at the use of -the cross for a sign and in 1643 forced the landlord of the "Golden -Cross," in the Strand, London, to take his "superstitious and -idolatrous" sign down. It is a curious irony of fate that Cromwell, -who to the present day is made responsible for nearly all -destructions in English cathedrals and who probably was an enemy, not -only of Catholic but of all signs, was himself made an object of the -signboard. - -In England more than anywhere else the sign stands for heroes and -hero-worship. Peter the Great and his visit to London were remembered -in "The Czar's Head"; English admirals and great generals like -Wellington and the Prussian King Frederic, "the great Protestant -hero," all receive "signboard-honors." London possessed still in 1881 -thirty-seven "Duke of Wellington" taverns. - -No less patriotic are the Dutch sign-painters, who love to picture -their own celebrities Rembrandt, Ruysdael, or Erasmus of Rotterdam and -the beloved Princes of Orange. One of them, the future King William -III of England, we find even as a boy on a signboard with the -inimitable Dutch inscription:-- - - "God laat hem worden groot - Bewaar hem voor de doot - Dat Kleine Manje." - -But other "merkwaardige Personen," great men of other nations, too, -receive their share of this popular homage: Frederic the Great, -Schiller, Gustavus Adolphus, and even old Cicero. Sometimes the -popularity of a hero passes quickly. The English Admiral Vernon had -hardly received signboard honors when he had to yield his place to -Frederic, the "Glorious Protestant Hero," as he was called after the -battle of Rossbach. As a rule, a few changes in the costume of the -portrait were considered sufficient by the landlord, who rarely -indulged in the luxury of an entirely new picture for the new hero. To -the English statesman, Horace Walpole, these rapid changes on the -signboard suggested the following melancholy remarks: "I pondered -these things in my breast and said to myself, 'Surely all glory is but -as a sign!'" - -The French people were more loyal to their Bonaparte signs, long after -the beloved emperor had been dethroned. For a long time the -"napoleonisme cabaretier" refused to capitulate, says Carteret. In the -country even serious fights were sometimes caused by the signs of the -Imperialists, who ten years after Waterloo showed still the famous -words, "La garde meurt et ne se rend pas," or represented the meeting -of Napoleon and Frederic with the inscription, "Le soleil luit pour -tous les heros." A tavern-keeper near Cannes, where Napoleon landed -on his return from Elba, to reconquer France, honored the memory of -the great man who rested in his inn with the words:-- - - "Chez moi c'est repose Napoleon, - Venez boire et celebrer son nom!" - -On the other hand, we find the men who delivered their country from -the yoke of the Corsican equally honored in signs; the tavern in which -these great men had rested were for a long time held sacred by the -people. "In Innsbruck, in the 'Golden Eagle,'" we read in Heine's -"Reisebilder," "where Andreas Hofer had lodged, and where every corner -is still filled with his portraits and mementoes, I asked the -landlord, if he knew anything of the 'Sandwirth.' Then the old -gentleman boiled over with eloquence...." - -To our great astonishment, we find even the idea of an invasion on old -English tavern signs. We know well this fear of invasion is nothing -new with our cousins. "Down the northeast wind the sea-thieves were -always coming. England should always beware of the northeast wind. It -blows her no good,"--that is the lesson the English school-children -already learn in such books as C. R. L. Fletcher's "History of -England" (Oxford, 1911), to which Rudyard Kipling has contributed most -passionate songs of patriotism. As early as 1753 the English had the -black suspicion that Frederic the Great might land fifteen thousand of -his Spartan Prussian soldiers on their coast, as if he just then had -nothing else to do. Carlyle has refuted these suspicions as -ridiculous: "King Friedrich distinguished himself by the grand human -virtue of keeping well at home--of always minding his own affairs." In -these days of the Entente Cordiale and its result the World-War, the -south wind, blowing from France, is entirely forgotten, but -nevertheless it is just there that the most serious preparations for -an invasion of England have been made repeatedly. In the year 1756 the -cry resounded: "If France land on us, we are undone"; and in 1759 -Admiral Conflans actually attempted to execute the idea with eighteen -thousand men, but the enterprise failed completely, "not on the shores -of Britain, but of Brittany." Under Napoleon the danger increased, but -after Nelson's victory of Trafalgar, Napoleon had to abandon his -maritime plans. The regained feeling of security was manifested in -many caricatures mocking Napoleon, among which we have to reckon the -sign "Old Bonaparte." Using the familiar motive of "The ass in the -bandbox," the sign-painter represents the French Emperor riding on a -donkey and sailing in a bandbox over the Channel to fight "Perfidious -Albion." - -In this connection we ask permission to tell the story of another -donkey-sign. Joseph II, Emperor of the old German Empire, whom we -might call the "traveling Kaiser" of the eighteenth century, loved to -put up at simple inns; even when he was invited by Frederic the Great, -at their first interview in Neisse, to lodge in the castle, he -preferred the liberty of having his ease at "The Three Kings." Once, -in Maestricht, he stopped at a hotel called "The Gray Donkey," and -gave the landlord as proof of his complete satisfaction the privilege -to call his house hereafter "Kaiser Joseph" and to paint on his sign -the equestrian portrait of his noble guest. But the Dutch customers -did not recognize their old tavern under such a glorious name, and the -landlord was finally obliged to put under the imperial picture the -odd words: "The Real Gray Donkey." Duke Charles of Wuerttemberg, who -knew this fancy of the Emperor, once pleased him enormously by hanging -a big sign, "Hotel de l'Empereur," out over the portal of his castle -in Stuttgart, himself receiving the imperial visitor in the humble -costume of an obedient landlord. - -More serious political events are equally reflected in the history of -the sign. When Richard III lost throne and life at Bosworth in 1485, -the Black Bears, the heraldic animals of his royal escutcheon, -disappeared from the tavern sign and were replaced by the Blue Bear of -the Count of Oxford. It was even a dangerous thing in those days to -play with the seemingly harmless sign. A landlord of a Crown inn, who -once said jokingly that he intended to make his son the heir of the -crown, was accused of high treason and had to suffer death in 1467. -Another sign, still popular in England, "The Royal Oak," came into -vogue after the restoration of Charles II, because it reminded the -good people of the oak in which the persecuted king had found a -shelter against his enemies. When Charles I's proud head fell, a day -after his execution, "The Crown" of the poet tavern-keeper Taylor, who -possessed the courage of his conviction, appeared veiled in black. - -The sign in mourning occurs again, but this time for a very frivolous -reason. In 1736 the tavern-keepers, disgusted with the "New Act -against spirituous liquors," covered their signs with "deep mourning" -as symbol of protest. That this law had not been too severe is -evidenced by Hogarth's engraving "Gin Lane," published fifteen years -later, where we read over a tavern the disgusting announcement: "Here -gentlemen and others can get drunk for a penny, dead drunk for -twopence." - -Macaulay has pointed out the great importance of public-houses as -political meeting-grounds. Party congresses of the Liberals were held -in the early day in "The Rose," but in general the Whigs preferred -places that had a punchbowl on their sign, punch being at the end of -the seventeenth century not only a very popular beverage, but -decidedly a "Whig drink," while the Tories drank mostly--_noblesse -oblige_--wine or champagne. We find the punchbowl either alone or in -more or less logical combinations, as "Ship and Punchbowl," "Parrot -and Punchbowl," "Half-Moon and Punchbowl," and the like. - -An old American sign, "The Federal Punch," is evidently a revised -edition of the Whig sign of the mother country. The business of -imbibing the party drink was not forgotten in these political -meetings. In fact, the Tories attended to it one time so thoroughly in -their Apollo Tavern in Fleet Street that they were unable to execute -their own decision to go "in a body" to King William to present him an -address of thanks. "They were induced to forego their intention; and -not without cause: for a great crowd of squires after a revel, at -which doubtless neither October nor claret had been spared, might have -caused some inconvenience in the present chamber." Finally they -decided to send as their representative an elderly country gentleman -who was, for a wonder, still sober. - -Beside these respectable meeting-places of the two great parties there -were "treason taverns," suspicious ale-houses, where plotters and -hired murderers, not without the encouragement of the exiled king -James II, forged their black plans against the life of William, the -Prince of Orange. One of these places had the fitting name "The Dog" -in Drury Lane, "a tavern which was frequented by lawless and desperate -men." - -[Illustration: THE.DOG.AND.POT.196.BLACKFRIARS.ROAD.IN.LONDON.] - -We will end our enumeration of politically important taverns with the -"Cadran Bleu" in Paris, where the Marseillais were greeted by the -Parisians after they had completed their long journey across the whole -of France, singing for the first time the famous song of the -Revolution: "Marchez, abattez le tyran." "Patriot clasps dusty -patriot to his bosom, there is footwashing and reflection: dinner of -twelve hundred covers at the Blue Dial, Cadran Bleu." - -To the present day the right to assemble freely in the tavern, "this -temple of true liberty," is suspiciously guarded by all parties. To -the present day the tavern serves all kinds of political and social -clubs and sometimes even burial societies similar to those of which -Washington Irving has told us such amusing stories, as "The Swan and -Horseshoe" and "Cock and Crown," once flourishing in the heart of -London, in Little Britain. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -TRAVELING WITH GOETHE AND FREDERIC THE GREAT - -[Illustration: Zur Post Bietigheim, Wuerttemberg] - - - - -CHAPTER X - -TRAVELING WITH GOETHE AND FREDERIC THE GREAT - - "Ici toute liberte, Monsieur, comme si nous etions au cabaret." - - FREDERIC THE GREAT. - - -There is a surprising parallelism between the fathers of these two -greatest men of the eighteenth century. These fathers, whom -narrow-minded critics usually call pedants, transmitted to their sons -the great gift of "life's serious conduct." Rarely has the old -Councillor Goethe found so much just appreciation as Carlyle has shown -for Frederic William I. The character of both the sons constitutes a -happy combination of this serious paternal heritage and the joyful -element of sanguine optimism. Both, although they owe perhaps most to -their fathers, feel themselves drawn to the softer natures of their -mothers, who hardly ever refused them any wish. And most of us prefer -to share with them the love of their charming mothers, Frau Rath and -Sophie Dorothea,--because it is always more agreeable to be loved -than to be educated,--and reserve for the fathers at best a cool -esteem. - -Travel for pleasure or sport was unknown to the old Spartan King of -Prussia, as indeed it was to his greater son, who did not even -appreciate the sport of hunting. When they traveled it was for the -inspection of the administration of their country or to review their -troops. Old Frederic William, in his great simplicity, preferred even -to pass the night in airy barns than to sleep in stuffy rooms. -"Dinner-table to be spread always in some airy place, garden-house, -tent, big clean barn,--Majesty likes air, of all things;--will sleep -too, in a clean barn or garden-house: better anything than being -stifled, thinks his Majesty." We never hear that he stopped at inns, -and Frederic, too, we meet only rarely in taverns, once in -Braunschweig in Korn's Hotel, where he was received one night in the -Freemasons' lodge very secretly because his severe papa despised such -childish fooleries utterly. Occasionally, perhaps, while in Potsdam he -visits inns like "The Three Crowns," where one could find better food, -he says, than at the table of his Mecklenburg cousins in their castle -Mirow. In the first year of his reign, when he traveled _incognito_ -to French Alsace, he had very distressing experiences in different -taverns. In a letter to Voltaire he describes in French verses the -various accidents of this trip:-- - - "Avec de coursiers efflanques - En ligne droite issus de Rosinante, - Et des paysans en postillons masques, - Butors de race impertinente, - Notre carosse en cent lieux accroche, - Nous allions gravement, d'une allure indolente, - Gravitant contre les rochers." - -Traveling all day in the worst of weathers, as if the last day of -judgment had come, and in the evening to get a poor meal in a -miserable tavern--and a large bill:-- - - "Car des hotes interesses - De la faim nous voyant presses, - D'une facon plus que frugale - Dans une chaumiere infernale - En nous empoisonnant, nous volaient nos ecus. - O siecle different des temps de Lucullus!" - -The landlord of the "Post" in Kehl demands passes from Frederic and -his companions, and Frederic fabricates them himself with his Prussian -seal. Again in Strassburg they present the same passes to the custom -officials, not without adding a gold coin:-- - - "L'or, plus dieu que Mars et l'Amour, - Le meme or sut nous introduire, - Le soir, dans les murs de Strassbourg." - -Here they stop at "The Raven," where Frederic immediately began to -study the French people. His judgment is not very flattering, although -he communicates it to his French friend:-- - - "Non, des vils Francais vous n'etes pas du nombre, - Vous pensez, ils ne pensent point." - -In the evening he invites even French officers to dine with him and -the following morning goes to a military review. Here one of his own -soldiers, a Prussian deserter, "un malheureux pendard," recognizes -him; he quickly hurries back to "The Raven," pays his bill, and leaves -Strassburg, never to see it again. - -Like the old king, Frederic preferred to stop in rectories when -traveling through the Prussian lands, but sometimes was prevented from -doing so by his very faithful but very independent coachman Pfund. If -the pastor had forgotten to give this important person his due tip on -the last visit, Pfund would surely cut him on future occasions, and -force his old master to go on to the next town, where he was sure to -find a host of better manners. This sin of omission was rarely -committed by pastors who received the honor of a royal visit, because -they could very well afford to humor old Pfund a little, when they -themselves received from the otherwise economical king the handsome -"royalty" of fifty dollars for a dinner and one hundred dollars for -dinner and a night's lodging. General von der Marwitz has told us the -story of how Pfund once opposed the king, who was tired and wanted to -stop in the rectory of Dolgelin, by saying the sun was not yet down -and they could well reach the next town, and how the old king -patiently submitted to the will of his Automedon. But there is a limit -even to the patience of old kings, and on one occasion, when Pfund -went too far in his rudeness, Frederic rebelled, and, to teach his -coachman morals, ordered him forthwith to cart manure and fagots with -a team of donkeys. After a year the king happened to meet him, busily -engaged in his new and modest occupation, and kindly inquired: "How -d'ye do?" The coachman's classic answer August Kopisch has celebrated -in a song which we venture to translate:-- - - "'Well, if I can drive,' says Pound, - On his box quite firm and round, - 'I do not care - How I fare, - If with horses or with asses, carting - Fagots or His Majesty the King.' - - "Then old Frederic, taking snuff, - Looked at Pound and told the rough: - 'Well, if you don't care - How you really fare, - If with horses or with asses, logs or kings you cart, - Quick unload, drive ME again, and take a start!'" - -Goethe's father, although himself the son of a landlord, disliked inns -and public-houses very keenly, as we read in Goethe's autobiography, -"Dichtung und Wahrheit": "This feeling had rooted itself firmly in him -on his travels through Italy, France, and Germany. Although he seldom -spoke in images, and only called them to his aid when he was very -cheerful, yet he used often to repeat that he always fancied he saw a -great cobweb spun across the gate of an inn, so ingeniously that the -insects could indeed fly in but that even the privileged wasps could -not fly out again unplucked. It seemed to him something horrible, that -one should be obliged to pay immoderately for renouncing one's habits -and all that was dear to one in life and living after the manner of -publicans and waiters. He praised the hospitality of the olden time, -and reluctantly as he otherwise endured even anything unusual in the -house, he yet practiced hospitality...." This excessive aversion to -all inns the great son inherited from his father, although he admitted -it was a weakness. We are therefore not surprised to see the student -Goethe, when he for the first time traveled full of longing to Dresden -in the yellow coach, lodge in the modest quarters of a philosophical -cobbler, whose home seemed to him as romantic and picturesque as an -old Dutch painting. Perhaps it was the memory of this interior that -inspired Goethe later, when he was called "Doktor Wolf" by his proud -mother, to arrange in "The Star" at Weimar, in honor of the Duchess -Anna Amalie, a "festivity in clair-obscure" with the distinct purpose -of creating a Rembrandt scene. - -But before we wander in the far world with the student and doctor, let -us take a stroll through the Frankfurt of his childhood and admire the -many signs that still decorated, not inns alone, but also, houses of -private citizens. The "Goldene Wage," situated on the Domplatz and -built in 1625, as well as the "Grosse Engel," opposite the Roemer, are -still standing, and are filled to-day with the treasures of art-loving -antiquarians. Recollections of his childhood passed through Goethe's -mind when he described in "Hermann und Dorothea" the pharmacy "Zum -Engel," near the "Golden Lion" on the market-place, and the old -bachelor chemist who was too stingy to regild his angel-sign:-- - - "Who now-a-days can afford to pay for the numerous workmen? - Lately I thought to have new-gilt the figure which stands as my - shop-sign, - The Archangel Michael with horrible dragon around his feet - writhing: - But as they are I have left them all dingy, for fear of the - charges." - -The father of some boy friends of Goethe's, a Herr von Senckenberg, -"lived at the corner of Hare Street, which took its name from a sign -on the house that represented one hare at least if not three hares." -Von Senckenberg's three sons were consequently called the "three -hares," which nickname they could not shake off for a long while. - -[Illustration: AVX TROIS LAPINS] - -It was in the "Golden Lion" at Frankfurt that Voltaire was arrested -and interned on his word of honor until his luggage containing the -stolen "Oeuvre de Poesies" of Frederic the Great should arrive. In -these poems the king had ridiculed several crowned heads, and it was -of the utmost importance for him to get them back before the -revengeful Frenchman could make use of them against him. But for some -reason or other the trunks did not arrive, and Voltaire, losing -patience and "without warning anybody, privately revoked said word of -honor" and tried to escape, an attempt that failed and ended in a -tragic-comic fashion. Father Goethe, who loved to tell this story to -his children as a warning example never to seek the favors of princes, -does not agree here with Carlyle in the name of the tavern, but says -it was "The Rose" in which "this extraordinary poet and writer was -held as a prisoner for a considerable time." When the fugitive was -brought back, the landlord of the tavern refused to take him in again, -and the "Bock" became for the rest of the time his involuntary -lodging-place. - -In spite of this bad example and his father's distinct warnings, -Goethe in 1778 accepted the invitation of the Duke of Weimar to the -"Roemische Kaiser" in Frankfurt, where he was "joyfully and graciously" -received, and where definite arrangements were made for his removal to -Weimar. - -After the death of Goethe's father, Mutter Aja sold the old homestead -on the Hirschgraben and took a flat in the "Goldenen Brunnen" on the -Rossmarket, where the golden fountain of her good humor continued to -flow for all her friends, but where she no longer had such facilities -for entertaining guests as in the roomy house of old. When, therefore, -her daughter-in-law and her grandson, the "liebe Augst," came to -visit her, she ordered rooms for them in "The Swan." Her apartment in -the "Golden Fountain" we know from her own lively description in a -letter to her son, who visited her here several times before her death -in 1808. - -Let us now accompany the student Goethe to Strassburg and pay a visit -to the inn "Zum Geist," where his friendship with Herder, so important -for his future development, was formed. "I visited Herder morning and -evening, I even remained whole days with him ... and daily learned to -appreciate his beautiful and great qualities, his extensive knowledge, -and his profound views." In Leipzig, the next university where Goethe -studied, he lived in a house, between the old and the new market, -which was called after its sign "Die Feuerkugel." One of the first -calls he made was to the literary dictator Gottsched, who "lived very -respectably in the first story of the 'Golden Bear,' where the elder -Breitkopf, on account of the great advantage which Gottsched's -writings had brought to the trade, had assured him a lodging for -life." This Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf was the inventor of music -printing and the founder of the famous publishing firm of to-day. His -house, the "Golden Bear," number 11 Universitaetsstrasse, is to-day the -home of the Royal Saxon Institute for universal history and the -history of civilization, founded by the distinguished historian -Lamprecht. In Goethe's day Breitkopf's son built a great new house -opposite the "Golden Bear" which was called "Zum Silbernen Baeren." - -A very popular sign in those days, in Germany, and especially in the -neighborhood of Frankfurt, was the pentacle. Goethe calls it simply -the beer-sign in his autobiography, where he tells us a charming story -based on an ingenious and humorous interpretation of the two triangles -which compose the sign. While still living as a young lawyer in Mutter -Aja's house, he entertained two distinguished visitors, the famous -Lavater and the educational reformer Basedow. To amuse them he -arranged carriage drives in the pleasant country around his native -town. We see the young fire-brand sitting between these two dignified -men:-- - - "The prophets sat on either side, - The world-child sat between them." - -On one of these excursions Basedow had offended the pious and -sweet-tempered Lavater by his cynical remarks about the Trinity and so -spoiled the pleasant atmosphere of good comradeship. Goethe punished -him in the following humorous manner. "The weather was warm and the -tobacco smoke had perhaps contributed to the dryness of Basedow's -palate; he was dying for a glass of beer. Seeing a tavern at a -distance on the road he eagerly ordered the coachman to stop there." -But Goethe urged him to go on without seeming to mind the furious -protest of the thirsty Basedow, whom he simply calmed with the words: -"Father, be quiet, you ought to thank me! Luckily you didn't see the -beer-sign! It was two triangles put together across each other. Now, -you commonly get mad about one triangle, and if you had set your eye -on two we should have had to put you in a strait-jacket." - -On his first journey to Switzerland, in company with the Stollbergs, -he stayed at the hotel "Zum Schwert," which is still standing. "The -view of the lake of Zurich which we enjoyed from the Gate of the Sword -is still before me." On the Rigi they lodged in the "Ochsen," and -here from the window of his room, he sketched one Sunday morning the -chapel of the "Madonna in the Snow." In the evening they sat before -the tavern door, under the sign, and enjoyed the music of the gurgling -fountain and a substantial meal consisting of baked fish, eggs, and -"sufficient" wine. On his second trip to Switzerland in 1779-80 we -meet him, together with his noble friend the Duke of Weimar, in "The -Eagle" at Constance, where Montaigne had lodged more than two hundred -years before. - -We could mention many other hospitable thresholds which the great -genius crossed: "The Red Cock" in Nuremberg, now an elegant building -that reminds us little of the ancient low house with its large gate; -or the "Hotel Victoria" in Venice, whose owner recalls to the modern -traveler Goethe's visit in a proud memorial tablet. "I lodged well in -the 'Koenigin von England,' not far from the market-place, the greatest -advantage of the inn." But if he could find private quarters he -preferred them to public-houses; so in Rome, where he was very glad to -be received in the home of the painter Tischbein. - -There is sufficient evidence that Goethe took an artistic interest in -signs, since he invented one himself for his puppet play "Hanswurst's -Hochzeit," where we read the bewitching rhyme:-- - - "The wedding-feast is at the house - Of mine host of the Golden Louse." - -In "Truth and Poetry" he has given us the scheme of the play, which -was never really executed. Like a born stage manager, he proposed a -kind of turning stage: "The tavern with its glittering insignia was -placed so that all its four sides could be presented to view by being -turned upon a peg." This patent idea of a turning inn showing its -golden sign and its door open to travelers from the four quarters of -the globe, might please the modern landlord too, even if he did not -care exactly for the super-sign of a "Golden Louse," "magnified by the -solar-microscope!" - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE ENGLISH SIGN AND ITS PECULIARITIES - -[Illustration: Lamb and Flag East Bath, England] - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE ENGLISH SIGN AND ITS PECULIARITIES - - "Freedom I love, and form I hate - And choose my lodgings at an inn." - - WILLIAM SHENSTONE. - - -We cannot resist the temptation to quote as an introduction the -_ipsissima verba_ of England's classical historian Macaulay on the -evolution of public hospitality in his country. Most naturally the -evolution of the sign runs parallel to the evolution of the tavern, -and in a time of flourishing inns we may expect to find highly -developed tavern signs. "From a very early period," says Macaulay, in -a chapter on the social condition of England in 1685, "the inns of -England had been renowned. Our first great poet had described the -excellent accommodation which they afforded to the pilgrims of the -fourteenth century. Nine and twenty persons, with their horses, found -room in the wide chambers and stables of the Tabard in Southwark. The -food was of the best, and the wines such as drew the company on to -drink largely. Two hundred years later, under the reign of Elizabeth, -William Harrison gave a lively description of the plenty and comfort -of the great hostelries. The continent of Europe, he said, could show -nothing like them. There were some in which two or three hundred -people could without difficulty be lodged and fed. The bedding, the -tapestry above all, the abundance of clean and fine linen was a matter -of wonder. Valuable plate was often set on the tables. Nay, there were -signs which had cost thirty or forty pounds. In the seventeenth -century England abounded with excellent inns of every rank. The -travelers sometimes, in a small village, lighted on a public-house -such as Walton has described, where the brick floor was swept clean, -where the walls were stuck round with ballads, where the sheets -smelled of lavender, and where a blazing fire, a cup of good ale, and -a dish of trout fresh from the neighboring brook, were to be procured -at small charge. At the larger houses of entertainment were to be -found beds hung with silk, choice cookery, and claret equal to the -best which was drunk in London." - -A sign that costs one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars -would be, even in our days of high-paid labor, a thing worth looking -at. In the times of the Renaissance it certainly was a work of -excellent craftsmanship, sculptured in wood and richly gilded. On an -extensive tour through England which brought us to the charming -western fishing-village of Clovelly, with its "New Inn" and the more -romantic "Red Lion" down by the little harbor, and to Chester, in the -north, founded by the Romans, we were disappointed to find so few old -signs of artistic value. We found very few carved in wood like "The -Blue Boar" in Lincoln or "The Swan" in Wells, from whose windows the -beautiful western facade of the cathedral, unusually rich in -sculptures, is seen through the green veil of huge old trees. This -swan sign shows certain characteristics of the period of the First -Empire, and surely does not date back beyond 1800. Also the famous -"Four Swans" in the little town of Waltham Cross, north of London, -perhaps the only existing example of an old English custom to -construct the sign like a triumphant arch across the street, are not -so old as the tavern, which a bold inscription dates in the year -1260. How could a sign delicately carved in wood resist the inclemency -of the weather, when the stone sculptures of the cathedrals,--as in -Exeter, for instance, or in Salisbury,--although leaning against the -protecting walls of these gigantic structures, suffered so much? To -please the lovers of antiquity some owners of old houses put the most -arbitrary dates of their foundation on the neatly-painted fronts. In -the street in Chester that leads down to "The Bear and Billet," one of -England's oldest frame houses, we saw the date 1006 painted on a -facade, evidently built in Renaissance times. Other burghers and -house-owners who have more respect for exact historic truth, see, of -course, in such misleading inscriptions an unfair competition. - -[Illustration: THE.SWAN.IN.WELLS.] - -[Illustration: Ye Olde Four Swans.in Waltham Cross.England.1260.] - -Signs wrought in iron seem to have been rare in England, the art of -forging being less developed there than in the south of Germany. -Curiously enough the South-Kensington Museum in London, an enormous -storehouse of old works of arts and crafts, contains not a single -English sign, but a very beautifully forged iron sign from Germany, -dated 1635,--a baker's sign, as the great crown and the heraldic lions -reveal to us. A friendly assistant at the Museum showed us another -German sign dating from the end of the seventeenth century, charmingly -carved and gilded, representing the workshop of a shoemaker. These two -were the only signs that the Museum possessed. - -The old London signs have all found a very dismal refuge in the dimly -lighted cellar of the Guild Hall. Some of them are stone sculptures of -considerable size like the giant sign "Bull and Mouth." Here too we -find certain technical curiosities, as, "The Dolphin" of 1730 painted -on copper, and more unusual still, "The Cock and Bottle," a neat and -dainty design composed of blue-and-white Dutch tiles. The foggy and -damp climate has often injured not only the carved woodwork of the -signboard, but still more the painting on it. The beam on which it -hangs might be very old; the painting itself is always of recent date -even if the artist, following an old tradition, sometimes produces -quaint effects. As an example of how quickly the work of the -sign-painter darkens beyond recognition, we may cite "The Falstaff" in -Canterbury. It was not a year since the landlady had hung out this -picture of the blustering knight in a bold fencing-pose that we saw it -last, and it was already very difficult to distinguish the details of -the composition; while another painting--the immediate predecessor of -the sign in the street--which the friendly Dame showed us on the -staircase was as black and bare as a slate. Sometimes the frames of -the pictures are carved and allow us to guess the date of their -origin; but, as a rule, the perfectly plain signboard hangs out on a -strong beam. A typical example is "The Falcon" in Stratford-on-Avon. - -The higher the artistic value of the painting on the signboards was, -the more we have to regret that so much art was wasted on such a -perishable production. In the eighteenth century the coach-painters, -whose craftsmanship on old equipages, sledges, and sedan-chairs we -still admire in many a museum, used to produce most elegant signs and -received for their work astonishingly high prices. Shaken by winds, -whipped by rainstorms, their beauty was soon gone. Nowhere have we -found them either in collections or in the light of the street. Only -in literary tradition does there still live a part of the charm of all -these burned and weather-killed things of beauty. - -But one device we discovered in England to restore the old forms, -namely, the so-called club signs. Just as the printer's marks often -reproduce _en miniature_ the sign of the publisher, so the club signs -give a reduced picture of the old tavern signs, especially of those -that were cut as silhouettes in metal plates. The very first printers -of the fifteenth century loved to introduce into their books these -little designs symbolizing their names. Peter Drach in Speyer used two -little shields, one containing a winged dragon and the other, as a -friendly compensation, a Christmas tree and two stars. Johannes -Sensenschmied, a proud "civis Nurembergensis," had two crossed scythes -(_Sensen_) in his escutcheon. These same designs appear later on the -front page of a volume, neatly engraved on copper, often reproducing -the sign of the bookshop to which one had to go if one wanted to buy -this particular book. A Parisian publisher adopted "La Samaritaine," -which to-day has become the name of a great department store. Mr. -Leonard Plaignard, of Lyon, called his shop "Au grand Hercule," and -put the Greek hero on the front page of his books with the -inscription: "Virtus non territa monstris." Just as these little -engravings may give us an idea of the old publishers' signs, so we may -gain from the club signs some suggestions as to how the old signboards -looked. - -On Whitsunday the club members used to fasten these small brass -imitations of their beloved tavern sign to poles and carry them in -solemn procession through the astonished town. At the end of the club -walking, it is whispered, many were unable to hold the poles as -straight as they wished. The museum of the quiet little town of -Taunton possesses a remarkable series of such club signs. It has -become quite a fad in England to collect these little polished brass -figures, since the public has got tired of the warming-pan craze. - -Morris dancers sometimes joined in the club processions, among them -the green or wild man, Robin Hood, famous in song and story; they -amused the crowd with such charming airs as as-- - - "'O, my Billy, my constant Billy, - When shall I see my Billy again?' - 'When the fishes fly over the mountain, - Then you'll see your Billy again.'" - -[Illustration: SALUTATION INN IN MANGOTSFIELD] - -Our design of two gentlemen saluting each other politely is such a -club sign, reproducing in miniature the sign of the "Salutation Inn" -in Mangotsfield, and representing the last link in the chain of -salutation signs, which began with the old religious scene of Mary -saluted by the angel. - -Price Collier, in his book "England and the English," has dedicated a -whole chapter to English sport, on which the nation spends every year -$223,888,725, more than the cost of her entire military machine, navy -and army together. On fox hunting alone she spends $43,790,000. This -love of sport is an old English trait, shared by both sexes. One of -the first books printed in England was a book on sport, "The Bokys of -Haukyng and Huntyng," supposed to be written by a lady, Juliana -Berners, the prioress of the nunnery of Sopwell, and published for -the first time in the new black art in 1486. A schoolmaster of the -abbey school of St. Albans had arranged the edition, and it is -therefore sometimes quoted as "The Book of St. Albans." No wonder, -then, that such a popular subject was readily chosen by the sign -painters, and that they love to picture the hunted animals, the white -hart and the fox, and not less often the faithful companions of the -hunter, dog and horse, hawk and falcon. - -[Illustration: THE PACK-HORSE IN .CHIPPENHAM.] - -A great role is played by the horse, not only as the heraldic animal -in the coat of arms of the Saxons and of the House of Hanover, but the -real beast, from the good old pack-horse to the lithe-limbed racer. In -the early Middle Ages, when the roads were so bad that it was -impossible for heavy wagons to travel on them, the pack-horse was the -only medium for the transportation of goods, post-packages, and mail. -Those were hard days for impatient lovers, who would have preferred to -send their _billets-doux_ in Shakespearean fashion, "making the wind -my post-horse." Sometimes the horse's burden, the wool-pack--the wool -business being the chief trade in England in the twelfth -century--appears on the signboard. In fact, in the time of Ben Jonson -"The Woolpack" was one of the leading hostelries of London. - -Another sign is the race-horse, celebrated by Shakespeare in such -lines as:-- - - "And I have horse will follow where the game - Makes way, and run like swallows o'er the plain." - -from "Titus Andronicus" (II, ii), or those other lines in "Pericles" -(II, i):-- - - "Upon a courser, whose delightful steps - Shall make the gazer joy to see him tread." - -In the reign of Henry VIII, a tavern called "The Running Horses" -existed in Leatherhead, a place not exactly fitted for noble hunters, -since a contemporary poet complains about the beer being served there -"in rather disgusting conditions." Not infrequently we find more or -less happy portraits of famous race-horses, such as "The Flying -Dutchman" and "Bee's Wing"; sometimes even a hound was honored in this -way, guarding the entrance of a tavern as his famous Roman colleague, -pictured in mosaic, did in the days of antiquity. "The Blue Cap" in -Sandiway (Cheshire) was such a sign. - -In Chaucer's time it was a popular fashion to decorate the horses with -little bells, as we may infer from the Abbot's Tale:-- - - "When he rode men his bridle hear, - Gingling in a whistling wind as clere, - And eke as loud as doth a chapel bell." - -Curiously enough, these bells, sometimes of silver and gold, are -designated in old manuscripts by the Italian word _campane_, as if -this custom had been adopted by the English gentry from Italy. The -"gentyll horse" of the Duke of Northumberland, the old documents would -tell us, was decorated with "campane of silver and gylt." Most -naturally such valuable bells were very welcome as prizes in the -sporting world; in Chester, for instance, the great prize of the -annual race on St. George's Day consisted of a beautiful golden bell -richly adorned with the royal escutcheon. But independent of this -custom the bell has always been very popular in England. The great -German musician Haendel has even called it the national musical -instrument, because nowhere else, perhaps, do the people delight so -much in the chimes of their churches. We find it, therefore, -everywhere on the tavern sign, sometimes in absurd combinations like -"Bell and Candlestick" or "Bell and Lion"; very prettily in connection -with a wild man, "Bell Savage," which is changed under gallant French -influence into "Belle Sauvage," or even "La Belle Sauvage." "Cock and -Bell" points again to a popular sport, the cock-fight. Like the little -slant-eyed Japanese, the small boys of Old England loved to watch this -exciting game; on Lent-Tuesday special cock-fights were arranged for -them, and the happy little owner of the victorious animal was -presented with a tiny silver bell to wear on his cap. No wonder that -"The Fighting Cocks" themselves appear on the signboard. We find them -on taverns in Italy, too, where the popularity of this sport goes back -to the Roman days. The Bluebeard King Henry VIII issued an order -prohibiting all cock-fights among his subjects, all the while -establishing for himself a cockpit in White Hall as a royal -prerogative. In the days of Queen Victoria the rather cruel sport was -definitely abolished. - -Another not less cruel sport still lives in the tavern sign "Dog and -Duck." The birds were put into a small pond and chased by dogs. -Watching the frightened creatures dive to escape their pursuers -constituted the chief joy of the performance. We may still hear the -wild cries of the spectators urging on the dogs, when we read the old -rhyme:-- - - "Ho, ho, to Islington; enough! - Fetch Job my son, and our dog Ruffe! - For there in Pond, through mire and muck, - We'll cry: hay Duck, there Ruffe, hay Duck!" - -An old stone sign of such a "Dog and Duck" tavern, dated 1617, can -still be seen in London outside of the Bethlehem Hospital in St. -George's Field. The popular name of this lunatic asylum is -Bedlam--favorite word of Carlyle to designate confusion and chaos. - -Here in South London special arenas were built for the spectacle of -bear-baiting, and it is no chance that as early as in the time of -Richard III the most popular tavern of this quarter was called "The -Bear." It stood near London Bridge, and was frequented especially by -aristocratic revelers. In these scenes of rough amusements for the -people the muse of Shakespeare introduced the gentle dramatic arts. -Here his "Henry V" was introduced for the first time, perhaps, with -its solemn chorus: "Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France?" - -Still more than these artificial and butchery sports of the citizen, -the real joys of the hunter found their echo in the productions of the -sign-painters. There is hardly an English town without a "White Hart -Inn." Since the days of Alexander the Great, who once caught a -beautiful white hart and decorated his slender neck with a golden -ring, since Charlemagne and Henry the Lion, the white hart has been a -special favorite of the hunter, whose joys no poet perhaps has sung so -charmingly as Shakespeare in these lines of "Titus Andronicus" (II, ii -and iii):-- - - "The hunt is up, the morn is bright and grey, - The fields are fragrant, and the woods are green: - Uncouple here - - * * * * * - - The birds chaunt melody on every bush; - The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun; - The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind, - And make a chequer'd shadow on the ground: - Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit, - And--whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds, - Replying shrilly to the well-tun'd horns, - As if a double hunt were heard at once once-- - Let us sit down...." - -Another group of signs celebrates Master Reynard. We see him harassed -by dogs and riders on the sign "Fox and Hounds" in Barley -(Hertfordshire). We miss only the sportive ladies who dip their -kerchiefs of lace in the poor devil's blood to show that they, too, -were in at the finish. This sign, by the way, was used long centuries -ago, since we hear of a "Fox and Hounds Inn" in Putney that claims to -be over three hundred years old. - -The German Nimrod took no less pleasure than his English cousin in -seeing a hunter's sign on the tavern door, as is amply proved by the -many golden harts, flying in great bounds, or our George sign from -Degerloch, daintily wrought in iron. The German poets, too, sang many -a song celebrating the adventures of the chase. - -[Illustration: ZUM HIRSHEN WINNENDEN] - -Not so often do we find on the Continent the so-called "punning sign," -which might well be called an English specialty, since England's -greatest poet used to indulge a great deal in punning,--"mistaking the -word" as he calls it. In a dialogue full of quibbles in the "Two -Gentlemen of Verona" he admits himself that it is a weakness to yield -to it:-- - - "_Speed._ How now, Signior Launce? What news with your - mastership? - - "_Launce._ With my master's ship? Why, it is at sea. - - "_Speed._ Well, your old vice still: mistake the word. - What news then in your paper? - - "_Launce._ The blackest news that ever thou heard'st. - - "_Speed._ Why, man, how black? - - "_Launce._ Why, as black as ink." - -And thus he goes on against his better judgment and "the old vice" -triumphs, not only here, but in nearly all his plays. Following the -illustrious example of the great poet the English landlord puts all -kinds of puns and puzzles on his signs, and the private citizen of -simple birth and aristocratic ambitions created for himself the most -ridiculous escutcheons by childish plays upon his own name. Thus, Mr. -Haton would put a hat and a tun in his coat of arms and Mr. Luton a -lute and a tun without giving a thought to etymology. Likewise the -landlord's name would account for such curious signs as "Hand and -Cock," which was simply the punning sign of a certain John Hancock in -Whitefriars. - -Diligent authors like Frederic Naab--who, together with Thormanby, -made a special study of sign puzzles--are indefatigable in searching -out the deep meaning of all these tavern sign absurdities. "The Pig -and Whistle" alone has been explained in twelve different ways. We -mentioned above how "The Cat and Fiddle" was a mutilation of the old -religious sign of "Catherine and Wheel." In similar fashion the -noble-sounding "Bacchanals" were degraded to a common "Bag of Nails." - -Topers and tipplers, whose forte was certainly not orthography, loved -to confuse "bear" and "beer," words that might very well sound alike -when pronounced by beery voices. A certain Thomas Dawson in Leeds, who -evidently sold a rather heavy beer, warned his customers on his sign: -"Beware of ye Beare." Lovers of cards invented the amusing distortion -of "Pique and Carreau" into "The Pig and Carrot." The popular -political sign of "The Four Alls," representing a King ("I rule all"), -a Priest ("I pray for all"), a Soldier ("I fight for all"), and John -Bull as farmer ("I pay for all"), was changed into "Four Awls," a sign -which presented infinitely less difficulties to a painter of few -resources. Sometimes the Devil is added as fifth figure saying, "I -take all." - -Cromwell's soldiers once took offense at the sign of a tavern where -they were obliged to put up for the night. They took it down and in -its place wrote over the door the words, "God encompasses us." The -next day, when they were gone, the landlord had the brilliant idea to -change the pious words to the punning sign, "Goat and compasses." -Maybe, too, the compasses were a commercial trade-mark, as we see them -still to-day on boxes and casks. - -Very popular was the joking sign, "The Labor in Vain," representing a -woman occupied in the hopeless task of washing a colored boy:-- - - "You may wash and scrub him from morning till night, - Your labor's in vain, black will never come white." - -This particular sign was imported from France, where the _calembour_ -sign flourished. Some even say that the punning sign became popular in -England only "after Edward ye 3 had conquered France." The French have -two interpretations of the "Labor in Vain": one corresponds with the -English version; the other, "Au temps perdu," represents a -schoolmaster teaching an ass. As counterpart we find "Le temps gagne," -a peasant carrying his donkey. The French _calembours_ were decidedly -less reverential than the English punning signs. Neither religion nor -good morals are sacred to the Gallic wag, who is allowed to say -anything if he understands how to turn it gracefully. "Le Signe de la -croix" is depicted by a swan (_cygne_) and a cross, and even the -tragic scene of Jesus taken prisoner in the Garden of Gethsemane--_le -juste pris_--is turned into the shameless words, "Au juste prix," to -advertise the cheapness of drinks and victuals. More innocent is the -distortion of the "Lion d'or" into the undeniable truth, "Au lit on -dort," or the inscription on a white-horse sign: "Ici on loge a pied -et a cheval." The temptation to use such _calembours_ no trader could -resist. A corset-maker praised his goods thus: "Je soutiens les -faibles, je comprime les forts, je ramene les egares." We shall see in -the following chapter how such pointed jokes and blasphemies roused -the righteous indignation of the honorable and pious citizens and -increased the enemies of the sign, who finally gave it the _coup de -grace_. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE ENEMIES OF THE SIGN AND ITS END - -[Illustration: Cavallo Bianco, Borgo San Dalmazzo, Italy] - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE ENEMIES OF THE SIGN AND ITS END - - "Ne songez pas meme a reformer les enseignes d'une ville!" - - -In mediaeval times the signs were not only charming or pious -decorations of the snug narrow streets, but they were also very useful -and practical guides for the wayfarer through the labyrinth of crooked -lanes. Even the uneducated understood their pictorial language like -illustrations in a book which give even to a child a certain -clue to its meaning. For this very reason the learned Sebastian -Brant decorated his edition of Virgil of 1522 with elaborate -pictures,--_expolitissimis figuris atque imaginibus nuper per -Sebastianum Brant superadditis_,--firmly hoping that now even the -unlearned would easily understand the beauties of his beloved author: -"_Nec minus indoctus perlegere illa potest_." While the learned men in -general continued to despise pictures in their editions of the -classics, the first popular books tried through their wood-cuts to -speak to the fancy of the common people and thus win their applause. -Just as these pictures in the old books, so the signs in the streets -spoke to the _indoctus_. Therefore, if somebody wished to send a -letter to his banker in Fleet Street, London, he needed only to tell -his messenger that it was at the "Three Squirrels," and he was sure -that even the greatest numskull could find it. Unfortunately the -owners of this old banking-house have withdrawn the sign, so it took -me quite a while before I found it safely hung up on a modern iron arm -in the office of Messrs. Barclay & Co., No. 19, Fleet Street. The -characteristic interpretation of the sign, given to me by the banker -himself, was: "May you never want a nut to crack." - -[Illustration: .THREE.SQUIRRELS.LONDON.] - -In the old times the streets were not yet numbered, as Macaulay tells -us, not even at the end of the seventeenth century. "There would -indeed have been little advantage in numbering them; for of the -coachmen, chairmen, porters, and errand-boys of London, a very small -proportion could read.... The shops were therefore distinguished by -painted signs, which gave a gay and grotesque aspect to the streets. -The walk from Charing Cross to Whitechapel lay through an endless -succession of Saracens' Heads, Royal Oaks, Blue Bears, and Golden -Lambs, which disappeared when they were no longer required for the -direction of the common people." As a useful guide to find one's way -the sign was expressly recognized by the state authorities; so in a -privilege granted by Charles I to the inhabitants of London to hang -out signs "for the better finding out such citizens' dwellings, shops, -arts, or occupations." For the landlords, it was even made obligatory -so as to facilitate the police in determining if the laws concerning -the liquor trade were properly observed. An Act of Parliament in the -reign of Henry VI forced the brewers to hang out signs and an -ordinance of Louis XIV for Paris distinctly demands: "Pour donner a -connoitre les lieux ou se vendent les vins en detail et si les -reglements y sont observez, nul ne pourra tenir taverne en cette dite -ville et faubourgs sans mettre enseigne et bouchon." Similar -regulations we find in Switzerland; as, for instance, in Maienfeld -where the city fathers punished every one who kept tavern without an -"open sign." Through such restrictions they hoped to stop the -competition of the simple burgher, "the temporary landlord," who tried -to sell the surplus product of his own vineyard, and thus to secure -the patronage of all thirsty souls for the legal "Schildwirt," the -landlord with a sign, even if he lived only from the "bouchon" or -cork and could not accommodate guests overnight. - -[Illustration: ZUR GLOCKE WINNENDEN] - -If they had not a sign out, how could the watchman, after the -night-bell--sometimes called "Lumpenglocke" in Germany--had sounded, -investigate properly if the tavern-keepers really stopped to furnish -the guests with new wine? And was it not the duty of the city fathers -to look after the morals of their subjects and to teach them the -wisdom of the German saying:-- - - "Er hat nicht wol getrunken, der sich uebertrinket. - Wie ziemet das biderbem Mann, daz ihm die Zunge hinket?" - -So the sign was in many ways a useful institution topographically, -politically, and morally. Its merits are not yet exhausted: it was a -good weather prophet, too. When the old iron things began to moan and -to squeak, storm and rain surely were not far, as an English rhyme -whimsically says:-- - - "But when the swinging signs your ears offend - With creaking noise, then rainy floods impend." - -How was it possible, then, that such an institution as our amiable -sign, approved and furthered by the State, such a popular, often -artistically charming creation, could have enemies? The first reason, -as we have seen in our chapter on "Religious Signs," was that pious -signs were used by impious innkeepers or that religious themes were -represented in a manner insulting to all religious feeling. No wonder, -if a French landlord called his tavern "Au sermon," and illustrated -the word "sermon" by a deer (_cerf_) and a mountain (_mont_), that the -really pious citizen protested and exclaimed indignantly: "Ne -devrait-on pas condamner a une grosse amende un miserable cabaretier -qui met a son enseigne un cerf et un mont pour faire une ridicule -equivoque a sermon? Ce qui autorise des ivrognes a dire qu'ils vont -tous les jours au sermon ou qu'ils en viennent." - -Surely the really pious signs subsisted beside their frivolous -brothers, as the English doctor-sign of 1623, beautifully carved and -gilded and now a treasure of a collector, proves by its inscription: -"Altissimus creavit de terra medicynam et vir prudens non abhorrebit -illam." Curiously enough, the schoolmaster souls took offense at the -sign's absurd combinations, its lack of "sound literature and good -sense," its impossible orthography and ridiculous mottoes, which, by -the way, were added only later to the pictures. All this was extremely -shocking to these people and many of them thought it a noble life-task -to reform the signs. One of these reformers developed his programme in -one of the oldest English periodicals, "The Spectator," in an April -number of the year 1710, fully aware of attempting an herculean labor. -Combinations, such as "Fox and Goose," he deigns to admit; but what -sense, asks he, in logical indignation, "is in such absurdities as -'Fox and the Seven Stars,' or worse still, in the 'Three Nuns and a -Hare'?" Moliere, in "Les Facheux," has ridiculed these sign reformers, -a species not unknown in Paris either, in the person of Monsieur -Caritides, who humbly solicited Louis XIV to invest him with the -position of a General Sign Controller. His petition reads, in -Moliere's inimitable French, as follows:-- - - _Sire_: - - Votre tres-humble, tres-obeissant, tres-fidele et tres savant - sujet et serviteur Caritides, Francais de nation, Grec de - profession, ayant considere les grands et notables abus qui se - commettent aux inscriptions des enseignes des maisons - boutiques, cabarets, jeux de boule et autres lieux de votre - bonne ville de Paris, en ce que certains ignorants, - compositeurs des dites inscriptions, renversent, par une - barbare, pernicieuse et detestable orthographe, toute sorte de - sens et de raison, sans aucun regard d'etymologie, analogie, - energie ni allegorie quelconque au grand scandale de la - republique des lettres et de la nation Francaise, qui se decrie - et deshonore, par les dits abus et fautes grossieres, envers - les etrangers, et notamment envers les Allemands, curieux - lecteurs et inspecteurs des dites inscriptions ... supplie - humblement Votre Majeste de creer, pour le bien de son Etat et - la gloire de son empire une charge de controleur, - intendant-correcteur, reviseur et restaurateur general des - dites inscriptions et d'icelle honorer le suppliant.... - -[Illustration: ZUM SCHLUESSEL BOZEN.] - -In all impartiality we have to admit that really the sign lost by and -by its usefulness as a street-guide, since the trades and crafts -occupying a house changed often, while the old signs, especially those -which formed a part of its architecture, remained unchanged, thus -producing the most ridiculous contradictions against which the -above-mentioned reformer of "The Spectator" protested not without -reason, saying: "A cook should not live at 'The Boot' nor a shoemaker -at 'The Roasted Pig.'" - -But the most ruthless enemy of the sign became the police itself, who -once protected it. As early as the year 1419 we find an English police -regulation, threatening with a fine of forty pence--in those days -quite a sum--"that no one in future should have a stake bearing either -his sign or leaves, extending or lying over the King's highway, of -greater length than seven feet at most." As every innkeeper tried to -outdo the other by the size and the magnificence of his sign, one -arrived finally at absurdly great constructions which really hampered -the traffic: as in England, where we find wrought-iron signs which, -like arches of triumph, reached from one side of the street to the -other. A precious old book, "A Vademecum for Malt-Worms" (British -Museum), in a quaint woodcut, "The Dog in Shoreditch," gives us a -picture of such a sign monument. To the artist's eyes they were -charming things, combining happily great lanterns with the sign into a -harmony which we so often find lacking in modern days, where beautiful -old signs through the addition of ugly modern lamps lose all their -artistic charm of yore. - -[Illustration: .THE.DOG.IN.SHOREDITCH.] - -Mercier's "Tableau de Paris" tells us of ridiculously great signs: -spurs as large as a wheel, gloves big enough to house a three-year-old -babe, and the like. In old Germany, too, the sight of the giant signs, -as Victor Hugo describes them from Frankfurt-on-the-Main, must have -been fantastic enough. "Under the titanic weight of these sign -monuments caryatides are bowed down in all positions of rage, pain, -and fatigue." Some of them carry an impudent bronze negro in a gilded -tin mantle; others an enormous Roman emperor--a monolith of twenty -feet in height--"dans toute la pompe du costume de Louis XIV avec sa -grande perruque, son ample manteau, son fauteuil, son estrade, sa -credence ou est sa couronne, son dais a pentes decoupees et a vastes -draperies." - -Especially objectionable to the police in London were those signs that -reached far out over the street and, shaken by the wind, constituted a -real danger to the passer-by. So the fall of such a huge inn sign in -Fleet Street, London, in 1718, caused the death of two ladies, a court -jeweler, and a cobbler. Similar dangers threatening an innocent public -were vividly set forth in a Parisian police ordinance in 1761, in an -amusing bureaucratic French: "Les enseignes saillantes faisaient -paraitre les rues plus etroites et dans les rues commercantes elles -nuisaient considerablement aux vues des premiers etages, et meme a la -clarte des laternes, en occasionnant des ombres prejudiciables a la -surete publique; elles formaient un peril perpetuellement imminent sur -la tete des passants, tant par l'inattention des proprietaires et des -locataires sur la vetuste des enseignes ou des potences, qui en ont -souvent abattu plusieurs et cause les accidents les plus funestes." - -[Illustration: THE QUEEN.IN EXETER.] - -If the police had contented itself in eliminating the offensive or -really dangerous signs, nobody could have blamed it. Unfortunately it -was much more aggressive, especially in France, the paradise of the -"ronds de cuir," and attempted to cut down every individual or -artistic invention on the part of the signmakers. We are, therefore, -not surprised to find so little in modern France that could remind us -of the old abundance. The officials of the Revolution proved -themselves just as narrow-minded as those of royal times. Both, -animated by the bureaucratic instinct to confine everything to narrow -rules, tried to suppress all individual poetical invention that once -was the charm of the sign. A royal edict of 1763 prescribes a very -uninteresting design as a binding model for all signs, giving at the -same time the exact measurements of the same and warning the public -not to dare to make any changes on the "dessein cy-dessus marque." It -was a poor consolation for the owners of beautiful old signs that the -same edict granted them the great privilege of giving their -art-treasures in account as old iron--"quinze deniers la livre"--when -paying the bill for the new sign patented by the State. Still more -radically acted the men of the Revolution, who sincerely hated the -signs, with their crowns and heraldry, as abominable "marques du -despotisme." They made short work, and simply ordered: "Toutes les -enseignes qui portent des signes de royalisme, feodalite et de -superstition seront renouvelees et remplacees par des signes -republicains: les enseignes ne seront plus saillantes mais simplement -peintes sur les murs des maisons." - -Another danger for the sign resulted from the attempt to number the -houses of which we hear, perhaps for the first time in France, as -early as 1512. This first attempt failed, but in the enlightened -eighteenth century the new and certainly more reasonable method of -distinguishing a house from its neighbor decidedly gained ground. In -1805 it was made obligatory by the Parisian police. A similar -development we observe in England. Nobody will deny the practical -progress and no business man would like to return to the old times -when an English bookseller, for instance, had to give the address of -his shop in the following way: "Over against the Royal Exchange at the -Sugar Loaf next Temple Bar." In Germany, where the centralization in -large capitals made slower progress and a multitude of small social -and political centers kept their own, the rational institution of -numbering the houses, so necessary in great cities like Paris or -London, was not accepted so quickly. In 1802 Dresden, for instance, -had not even on the street corners signs indicating their names; "an -institution that facilitates topography and topography facilitates -business," remarks a judicious contemporary. Here in Germany the cold -number did not conquer so easily over the poetical warmth of the dear -old sign. In the quiet, imperial towns of the south the artistic sign -of the Rococo period and the Empire style, unpersecuted and -unmolested, keep their place in the sun up to the present day in spite -of some ill-advised landlords who thought it necessary to hide the -humble oxen or lamb in the garret and call their house by some new -pretentious French name like "Hotel de l'Europe" or the like. - -[Illustration: .Stuttgart.] - -In our own enlightened times of general school education, nobody needs -any more the sign as a guide through even the most modest town. -Everywhere the number has taken its place for this purpose and we -regret to admit for the history of the sign too the truth of Darwin's -words: "Progress in history means the decline of phantasy and the -advance of thought." - - - - -ENVOY AND THE MORAL? - -[Illustration: Sonne Neckarsulm, Wuerttemberg] - - - - -ENVOY AND THE MORAL? - - "I am here in a strange land and have perhaps the seat of honor - at table in this inn; but the man down there on the end has just - as good a right here and there as I, since we are both here only - guests." - - MARTIN LUTHER: Sermons. Jubilate, 1542. - - -It is not very much the fashion in these modern days to ask for the -moral meaning of things, but we are old-fashioned enough to hold with -those who believe that things have not only a soul, but that they give -us a lesson too in revealing their soul to us, "la lecon des choses," -as the French, whom we are inclined to call condescendingly the -immoral French, call it. Old Frederic the Great in his famous -interview with the poet Gellert in Leipzig, after hearing from him one -of his fables "The Painter of Athens," did not fail to ask the -all-important question: "And the Moral?" - -Many a reader who has followed us but hesitatingly into regions that -seemed to him at the beginning of doubtful moral value, will be -perhaps surprised to see us conclude our investigations with this same -question. But I am sure we will do it with good profit, since in doing -so we shall have the chance to hear many a sermon of Doctor Martinus -Luther, whose moral force we children of the twentieth century would -love to dig out of his writings if its gold did not seem to us so -hopelessly buried under the sand of antiquated dogmatical quarrels. - -The tavern sign has its moral lesson for all concerned, guests and -landlords alike. From its modest and unknown creators the modern -artist too may receive many a valuable inspiration. When the poet -Seume, in December, 1801, started from Grimma in Saxony on his long -pilgrimage to Syracuse, his way seems to have led him soon to a -knightly George, who fights the dragon in all Christian lands, over -many a tavern door for centuries and whom Shakespeare celebrated in -the verses:-- - - "St. George that swindg'ed the Dragon, and e'er since - Sits on his horseback at mine hostess' door." - -Looking at the great green beast our romantic pilgrim prayed: "May -heaven grant me honest, friendly landlords and polite guardians at -the city gates from Leipzig to Syracuse!" In those old days when the -gate was dangerously near the tower and its dungeon, it was indeed of -the highest importance to find polite officials at the city gates; -just as we might sometimes pray to-day for polite customs officials, -the successors of the old grumpy watchmen who guarded the city -entrance and wrote the newcomer's name in their big books. Still more -important, too, is it for the modern traveler to find friendly -landlords. They seem as in the old days a gift from heaven, for which -we must pray and which we cannot buy. Truly many travelers seem to -think a full purse buys everything, but they forget the old truth -which Charles Wagner, in his book "La vie simple," has expressed -rightly in the following sentence: "Le travail d'un homme n'est pas -une marchandise au meme titre qu'un sac de ble ou un quintal de -charbon. Il entre dans ce travail des elements qu'on ne peut evaluer -en monnaie." And just these fine elements in the work of a landlord -and his servants which we cannot weigh or pay for make the simplest -inn so homelike and cozy. A good landlord does not need to fear even -Death, who seems to seize only the dishonest one, if we believe the -author of a "Dance of Death" from the fifteenth century in the -Stuttgarter Hofbibliothek. In a few forceful lines the old artist -traces the figure of the bad landlord sitting behind his counter and -trying to win the good favors of the uncanny musician Death, by -offering him a great stein of beer and humbly confessing: "Against God -and against law I sought to win earthly goods, taking money unjustly -from knights and peasants as a robber does. Oh, if I only should not -die now, I could hope to improve and to win grace." - -Many a landlord would gladly follow the example of Abraham if only his -guests would try to learn a little from the angels. But how often come -to him such wild fellows who claim every good thing he has in cellar -and kitchen, and when it comes to pay take French leave. - -It is well known that, as the old Bible saying goes, the sun is -shining over good and bad, over just and unjust, but Luther thought he -does not do it gladly. Perhaps the Doctor, who knew so many roads from -his own experience, even thought of the golden tavern sun when he -said: "The sun would prefer that all the bad fellows should get not a -single little gleam from him and it is a great grief and cross to him -that he must shine over them, wherefore he sighs and moans." - -[Illustration: ZUR SONNE WINNENDEN] - -Nobody has admonished us so heartily as Doctor Martinus to hold -ourselves as pious guests in this inn of Life, to live honestly and -decently in it as it becomes a guest. "If you wish to be a guest, be -peaceful and behave yourself as a Christian; otherwise they will soon -show you the way to the tower." It is characteristic for Luther to -remind the unruly guest of the tower, i.e., the prison. In other -connections too he readily refers to Master John the Hangman who is to -his mind a very useful, nay, even charitable man. - -Since we did not hesitate to threaten the landlord with the ghastly -musician of the "Dance of Death," it will seem only fair to remind the -guests of the tower, which in the old days was used as prison for the -peace-breakers. Luther, like all good Germans, was not a -prohibitionist; he recognized "a drink in honor," "einen Trunk in -Ehren," but he was a fierce enemy of all "drunkards and loafers" who -lie in taverns Sunday and week-day and pour the beer down their -throats as cows gulp water, saying: "What do I care about God, what do -I care about death? You miserable hog, you shall get what you are -striving for, you shall die too and be swallowed up by the mouth of -Hell." To every decent landlord such guests are a curse. To chase them -from his threshold the owner of the "George and Dragon" in Great -Budworth (Cheshire) invented the fine rhyme which should stand over -every tavern door:-- - - "As St. George in armed array - Did the fiery dragon slay, - So may'st thou, with might no less, - Slay that dragon drunkenness." - -A decent behavior surely, but no melancholy teetotalism, such is -Luther's standpoint. "Those have not been of the devil who drank a -little more as their thirst required and became joyful."--"It is not -the fault of the eating and drinking, that some people degrade -themselves to swine." Just as dancing in itself is no sin: "Why not -admit an honorable dance at a marriage feast? Go and dance! The little -children dance too without sin; do the same and be like a child whose -soul is not injured by dancing." - -The whole world appears to Luther like an inn in a strange town, in -which the pilgrim lies. In his nightly dreams he does not think of -becoming a citizen or a major of this town, his thoughts wander away -through the gate to the far city where his home is. - -To the pretentious traveler his description of "Christ's Inn," which -reminds us of our Swiss sign, "Hie zum Christkindli," might serve as -a little lesson in modesty. Thus he speaks about it in a Christmas -sermon: "Look, how the two parents in a strange land in a strange city -search in vain for good and hospitable friends. Even in the inns was -no room, since the city at that time was so crowded. In a cow-stable -they had to go and make the best of it as poor poor people! There was -no couch, no linnen, no cushions, no feather-beds; on a bundle of -straw they made their bed as close neighbours of the good cattle. -There in a hard winter-night the noble blessed fruit was born, the -dear child Jesus." And in another Christmas sermon he says: "If you -look at it with cow's or swine's eyes it was a miserable birth ... but -if you open your spiritual eyes you will see countless thousands of -angels, filling the heaven with their song and honouring not only the -child but the manger too in which it lies." - -Everything depends finally upon the way we look at it, if with cows' -eyes or with spiritual eyes. Only these will enable us to see in the -poorest inn the angel of hospitality covering us at night with gentle -wings. Till finally Mother Earth shall cover us softly in our last -quiet "Deversorium" in which we have at least the hangman's comfort: -"You shall be called to no more payments, fear no more tavern bills -which are often the sadness of parting as the procuring of mirth." - -But we must not end without delivering a little sermon to the signs, -too, that still glitter in the warm sunshine. To them, cocks, deer, -bears, oxen, and horses, a church-tower cock, celebrated by the -humorous clergyman poet Moericke of Schwabenland, gives this solemn -warning:-- - - "You poor old iron things, - Why should you be so vain? - Who knows how many springs - You will up there remain?" - - - - -Bibliography - - -1. Petit dictionnaire critique et anecdotique des enseignes de Paris -par un batteur de pave 1826, in Balzac's _Oeuvres completes_, -tome XXI. 1879. - -2. E. DE QUERIERE. Recherches historiques sur les enseignes, in -the _Magazin pittoresque_, 1850-60. - -3. BLAVIGNAC. Histoire des enseignes d'hotelleries, d'auberges -et de cabarets. Geneve, 1879. - -4. L. REUTTER. Les enseignes d'auberges du canton de Neuchatel, -avec notices par A. Bachelin. 1886. Neuchatel. - -5. MICHEL-FOURNIER. Histoire des Hotelleries. Paris, 1851. - -6. JOHN GRAND-CARTERET. L'enseigne, son histoire, sa philosophie, -ses particularites a Lyon. Grenoble, 1902. - -7. Journal du Voyage de MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE en Italie par -la Suisse et l'Allemagne en 1580 et 1581. Rome, 1775. - -8. TRISTAN LECLERE. Les Enseignes, in the _Revue Universelle_, -1905. - -9. P. FROMAGEOT. Les Hotelleries, cafes et cabarets de l'ancien -Versailles. 1907. - -10. EMILE CHATELAIN. Notes sur quelques tavernes frequentees -par l'universite de Paris au XIV et XV siecles. Paris, 1898. - -11. E. L. CHAMBOIS. Le Vieux Mans, les Hotelleries et leurs -enseignes. Le Mans. 1904. - -12. JACOB LARWOOD _and_ JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN. The History -of Signboards. First edition. London, 1866. - -13. CHARLES HINDLEY. Tavern Anecdotes and Sayings. London, -1881. - -14. GEO. T. BURROWS. Some Old English Inns. New York. -Frederick A. Stokes & Co. - -15. GEO. T. BURROWS. Old Inns of England, in the _Estate -Magazine_, May, 1905. - -16. P. H. DITCHFIELD. English Villages. - -17. P. H. DITCHFIELD. The Charm of the English Village. - -18. E. G. DAWBER. Old English Signs in _The Art Journal_, -1897. - -19. T. B. COOPER. The Old Inns and Inn Signs of York. -1897. - -20. F. G. HILTON PRICE. The Signs of Old Lombard Street. -Illustrations by James West. London. Field and Tuer. - -21. WILFRED MARK WEBB. Signs that Survive, in the _English -Illustrated Magazine_. September, 1900. - -22. JULIAN KING COLFORD. The Romance of the Signs of Old -London, in the _Magazine of Commerce_. July-December, 1903. - -23. F. CORNMAN. Some Old London Shop Signs. 3 series, -1891-94, printed only in 30 to 40 copies (Guildhall-Library: -Gal. M. 1. 5. 4to). - -24. A GUIDE FOR MALT WORMS, a second of a Vademecum for -Malt Worms or a Guide to Good-Fellows. London. Illustrated -with proper cuts. (British Museum: C-39-b. 19.) - -25. De Uithangteekens in verband met Geschiedenis in Volksleven -beschouwd door Mr. I. VAN LENNEP en I. TER GOUW. First edition, -1868. New edition, Leiden, 1888. - -26. OVERBECK. Pompeii. - -27. H. JORDAN. Ueber roemische Aushaengeschilder, in the _Archaeologische -Zeitung_, 1872. - -28. HOMEYER. Deutsche Haus-und Hofmarken. - -29. FRIEDRICH HAAS. Entwickelung der Posten vom Altertum bis -zur Neuzeit. Berlin, 1895. - -30. BENNO RUETTENAUER. Schwaebische Wirtshauschilder, in _Die -Rheinlande_, November, 1903. - -31. LEO VON NOORT. Deutsche Wirtshauschilder. _Woche_, June, -1909. - -32. A. BRUDER. Die Wirtshaeuser des Mittelalters. Innsbruck, -1885. - -33. TH. VON LIEBENAU. Gasthofswesen in der Schweiz. 1891. - -34. HANS BARTH, Osteria. Kulturgeschichtlicher Fuehrer. durch -Italiens Schenken. Verlag Julius Hoffmann. Stuttgart. - -35. FRITZ ENDELL. Wirtshauschilder. Ueber Land und Meer, -1910. (39.) - -36. CHARLES FEGDAL. Les vieilles enseignes de Paris. 3. edition. -Paris, 1914. - -37. EDOUARD FOURNIER. Histoire des enseignes de Paris, 1884. - -38. STEPHEN JENKINS. The Old Boston Post Road. New York, -1913. - -39. WEITENKAMPF. Lo, The Wooden Indian. (The art of making -cigar-shop signs. Sculptors in wood who began by making -the figureheads of ships.) _New York Times_, August 3, -1890. - -40. WEITENKAMPF. Some Signs and Others. _New York Times_, -July 3, 1892. - - * * * * * - - C'est bien disne, quand on s'echappe - Sans debourser pas un denier, - Et dire adieu au tavernier - En torchant son nez dans sa nappe. - - FRANCOIS VILLON. - - - - - Index - - - Abbot's inn, 62. - - Absalom, 159. - - Adam and Eve, 5, 7, 138. - - Ad maurum, 38. - - Ad Mercurium et Apollinem, 39. - - Admiral Vernon, 207. - - Ad rotam, 37 (_illus._). - - Affenwagen, 91 (_illus._). - - A l'enseigne de la belle etoile, 165. - - A l'enseigne de la lune, 165. - - A l'enseigne du pavillon des singes, 169. - - A l'image du Christ, 71. - - A l'image de Notre Dame, 151. - - Alla spada, 80. - - A man loaded with mischief, 155. - - American signs, 151, 199 _f._, 213. - - Anchor, 84, 85, 117. - - Ane raye, l', 92. - - Angel, 7, 11 (_illus._), 12 _ff._, 81, 124. - - Annunciation, 12. - - Apollo, 38, 203, 213. - - Ark of Noah, 89. - - Asne rouge, 173. - - Ass in the bandbox, 210. - - Auberge de la mule, 89. - - Auerbach's Keller, 85. - - Au grand monarque, 189. - - Au grand vainqueur, 195. - - Au juste prix, 257. - - Au lit on dort, 257. - - Au paradis des dames, 7. - - Au perroquet vert, 97. - - Au sermon, 266. - - Au temps perdu, 256. - - Au vase d'or, 123. - - Aux deux Pierrots, 151. - - Aux trois lapins, 227 (_illus._). - - Axe, 85. - - - Bacchus, 152, 203. - - Bag of nails, 255. - - Bakers' signs, 86, 134, 135 (_illus._), 241. - - Barking dogs, 158. - - Bear, 36, 44, 72, 120, 185, 211, 251. - - Bear and Billet, 240. - - Beehive, 98. - - Bee's Wing, 248. - - Bell, 73, 117, 138, 247 _f._ - - Bell and candlestick, 249. - - Bell and lion, 249. - - Belle sauvage, 249. - - Blue bear, 263. - - Blue boar, 115 (_illus._), 239. - - Blue cap, 248. - - Boar's head, 115 _f._ - - Bock, 228. - - Bonaparte, 151, 207 _f._, 210. - - Boot, 85, 269. - - Bowman tavern, 114. - - Bras d'or, 199. - - Bratwurstgloeckle, 185. - - Brutus, 196. - - Bull, 86, 164. - - Bull and bell, 86. - - Bull and magpie, 86. - - Bull and mouth, 241. - - Bull and stirrup, 86. - - Buona moglie, la, 69. - - Butcher sign (_illus._), 197. - - - Cabaret du petit pere noire, 178. - - Cadran bleu, 214. - - Cage, 73, 97. - - Camel, 44. - - Canone d'oro, 80. - - Capello, 117. - - Castor and Pollux, 203. - - Cat and fiddle, 204, 255. - - Cat and wheel, 204. - - Cavallo bianco, 45, 174. - - Cave des morts, la, 160. - - Centaur, 107, 119. - - Chaste Suzanne, la, 152. - - Chat noir, 150, 175. - - Chat qui dort (_illus._), 89. - - Cheshire Cheese, 180 _ff._ - - Chessboard, 33, 139. - - Cheval blanc, 151, 174. - - Cicero, 207. - - Cigogne, 90. - - Club signs, 243. - - Cochon mitre, 204. - - Cock, 34, 90, 162, 180, 183, 184 (_illus._), 190. - - Cock and bell, 249. - - Cock and bottle, 241. - - Cock and crown, 215. - - Cockpit, 104. - - Couronne civile, 194. - - Cradle, 99. - - Crocodile, 92. - - Croix de Lorraine, 175. - - Cromwell, 206. - - Cross, 82, 99, 185, 205, 257. - - Cross Keys, 104. - - Crown, 18, 72, 86, 120, 122, 124, 191 (_illus._), 192, 211 _f._ - - Cursus publicus, 40. - - Curtain, 104. - - Czar's head, 206. - - - Death and the doctor, 160. - - Deux torches, 177. - - Devil, 182. - - Diable, 176. - - Diana, 38. - - Dog, 89, 214, 246. - - Dog and duck, 250. - - Dog and pot (_illus._), 214. - - Dog in Shoreditch (_illus._), 270. - - Dolphin, 203, 241. - - Donkey, 210. - - Dove, 90. - - Dragon, 93. - - Dromedary, 91. - - Drudenfuss, 32. - - - Eagle, 35, 41, 82, 117, 120, 169, 232. - - Eagle and child (_illus._), 100. - - Eisenhut, 79. - - Elephant, 34, 35, 45, 113. - - Elephant and castle (_illus._), 7. - - Epee de bois, 177. - - Erasmus of Rotterdam, 206. - - - Falcon, 104, 105 (_illus._), 242. - - Falstaff, 242. - - Federal punch, 213. - - Femme sans tete, 67, 69. - - Feuerkugel, 229. - - Fighting cocks, 249. - - Fish, 84. - - Flags, 36. - - Fleur de lys, 82. - - Flying Dutchman, 248. - - Flying horse, 108. - - Fontaine de jouvence, la, 152. - - Fortune, 104, 203. - - Four alls, 255. - - Four swans, 240. - - Fox, 94, 246. - - Fox and goose, 267. - - Fox and hounds, 252. - - Fox and the seven stars, 267. - - Frederic the Great, 206. - - - Garter, 112. - - Geant, le, 94. - - George, 54, 62, 63, 108, 280. - - George and dragon, 164, 286 (_illus._). - - German hospitality, 21 _f._ - - German War-poster, 162. - - Giraffe, 93. - - Globe, 164. - - Goat, 163. - - Goat and compasses, 256. - - God begot house, 54. - - God encompasses us, 256. - - Golden bear, 229. - - Golden cannon, 45. - - Golden cross, 205. - - Golden eagle, 208. - - Golden head, 176. - - Golden lamb, 263. - - Golden lion, 103, 170, 226, 227. - - Golden louse, 233. - - Golden tiger, 112. - - Goldene Brunnen, 228. - - Goldene Wage, 226. - - Good eating, 73, 139. - - Good man, 70. - - Good Samaritan, 154. - - Good woman, 67, 68. - - Governor Hancock, 200. - - Grand Hercule, le, 94. - - Gray donkey, 210. - - Greek signs, 44. - - Green monkeys, 90 _f._ - - Grosser Engel, 226. - - Guild-houses, 137. - - Gustavus Adolphus, 206. - - - Habsburger Hof, 111. - - Half-Moon, 87, 88, 112, 136. - - Half-Moon and punchbowl, 213. - - Hand and cock, 254. - - Hand of hospitality, 19 _f._ - - Haubert, le, 80. - - Hell, 45, 72. - - Helmet, 78 _f._ - - Hercules, 9, 38, 94, 203, 244. - - High Lily, 53. - - Horse, 246 _f._ - - Hospice of the Great St. Bernard, 50. - - Hospital of St. Cross, 53. - - Hotel de l'Arquebuse, 114. - - Hotel de l'Empereur, 211. - - Hotel de l'Europe, 276. - - Hotel Victoria, 232. - - Huron, 151, 204. - - - In angelo, 13. - - In der Roskam, 136. - - In duobus angelis, 13. - - Indian signs, 204. - - Iron helmet, 78 _f._ - - - Jonge Stier, 154. - - - Kaiserhof, 111. - - Kaiser Joseph, 210. - - Knights of St. John, 51 _ff._ - - Knights Templars, 51 _f._ - - Koelner Hof, 111. - - Koenigin von England, 232. - - Korn's Hotel, 220. - - Krug, 135. - - - Labor in vain, 256. - - Lamb, 85, 99, 137. - - Leopard, 111. - - Linde, 81. - - Lion, 83, 185, 186 (_illus._). - - Little and great sleeper, 94. - - Living signs, 97. - - Logger-Heads, 159. - - Lubbar's Head, 111. - - - Mayde's Hede, 109. - - Mercury, 38. - - Mermaid, 93, 178. - - Minerva, 203. - - Mirabilia Romae, 53. - - Mitre, 182. - - Mol's Coffee House, 81. - - Moon, 87. - - Moor, 38. - - Mortar, 173. - - Mort qui trompe, la, 27, 160. - - Mouton blanc, 176 _f._ - - Mule, 89, 173. - - Mutter Gruen, 165. - - - New Inn, 110, 239. - - - Oak, 211. - - Ochse, 232. - - Ostel des singes, l', 90. - - Osteria del penello, 46. - - Ours qui pile, 173. - - - Pack-Horse, 246 (_illus._). - - Paon blanc, 96. - - Paradise, 7, 72. - - Parrot and punchbowl, 213. - - Peacock, 96, 103. - - Pegasus, 108, 203. - - Pentacle, 230. - - Pentagram, 32 _f._, 230. - - Pestle, 173. - - Pheasant, 96. - - Phenix, 104, 107, 203. - - Pig and carrot, 255. - - Pig and whistle, 254 _f._ - - Pilgrim inns, 51, 63. - - Pitcher, 134, 136. - - Plat d'argent, 73. - - Plat d'estein, 173. - - Pomegranate, 107. - - Pomme de pin, 174 _f._ - - Poor men's inns, 51, 61. - - Post, 221. - - Publishers' signs, 243 _f._ - - Punchbowl, 212. - - Purgatory, 72. - - - Quatre nations, 170. - - Quattuor sorores, 27. - - - Rathskeller, 84. - - Raven, 222. - - Red bull, 104. - - Red cock, 232. - - Red horse, 103. - - Red lion, 106, 109, 239. - - Rembrandt, 206. - - Remouleur (_illus._), 152, 153. - - Renard dansant devant une poule, 95. - - Rheinischer Hof, 111. - - Ritter, 62. - - Roasted pig, 269. - - Roi mort, le, 196. - - Roman eagle, 41. - - Roman post-system, 40. - - Roemischer Kaiser, 228, 271. - - Rose, 104, 121 (_illus._), 212, 228. - - Rowing barge, 164 (_illus._), 125. - - Royal oak, 211, 263. - - Running horses, 247. - - Ruysdael, 206. - - - Sagittary, 113, 203. - - Sainte Opportune, 171. - - Salutation, 72, 158, 205, 245. - - Samaritaine, 244. - - Saracen's Head, 263. - - St. Barbara, 73. - - St. Catherine and wheel, 204. - - St. Christopher, 60 _f._ - - St. Dominic, 66. - - St. Fiacre, 70. - - St. George, 62 _ff._, 65. - - St. Martin, 65 _f._ - - St. Urban, 66. - - Schiller, 206. - - Schoolmaster sign, 131, 147. - - Seelhaeuser, 51. - - Ship, 84. - - Ship and punchbowl, 213. - - Shoemaker sign, 241. - - Silent woman, 68. - - Siren, 93, 203. - - Six reines, 93. - - Soleil d'or, 152. - - Speaking signs, 135 _f._ - - Spread eagle, 117. - - Star, 72, 86, 87, 140, 185, 225. - - Star and garter, 113. - - Stella maris, 86. - - Stork, 36, 90. - - Striped donkey, 92. - - Sugar Loaf, 275. - - Sun, 38, 39, 86 _f._, 138, 284 (_illus._). - - Surgeon's sign, 147 _f._ - - Swan, 95, 229, 239. - - Swan and horse shoe, 215. - - Sword, 80. - - - Tabard, 80, 237. - - Tavern, 29. - - Temps gagne, le, 256. - - Tessera hospitalis, 19. - - Tete noire, 176. - - Three angels, 13. - - Three crowns, 220. - - Three jolly sailors, 85. - - Three Kings, 185, 192 _f._, 210. - - Three Madonnas, 46. - - Three Moors, 193 _f._ - - Three nuns and a hare, 267. - - Three squirrels, 262 (_illus._). - - Tiger, 103, 111. - - Tres tabernae, 29. - - Trinite, 71. - - Trois ponts d'or, 177. - - - Unicorne, 83, 93. - - Union Hotel, 199. - - - Vertumnus and Pomona, 150. - - - Washington, 200. - - We are three, 159. - - Wellington, 206. - - We three asses, 159. - - White hart, 201, 246, 251. - - White horse, 45, 82, 174, 257. - - Wild man, 203. - - Wo der Fuchs den Enten predigt, 95. - - Wooden Indian, 151. - - Wool pack, 247. - - Wreath, 17 _f._, 30, 32, 134, 136. - - - Zebra, 92. - - Zu den Slaraffen, 94. - - Zum Anker, 85. - - Zum Engel, 226. - - Zum Geiste, 90, 229. - - Zum guldin Schooffe, 86. - - Zum Kameeltier, 92. - - Zum Kindli, 71 (_illus._), 287. - - Zum Ochsen, 133. - - Zum Ritter, 63. - - Zum Roessle, 83 (_illus._). - - Zum Rohraff, 91. - - Zum Rosenkrantz, 194. - - Zum wilden Mann, 38 (_illus._). - - Zur Linde, 122. - - Zur Schlange, 136. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TAVERN SIGNS*** - - -******* This file should be named 41869.txt or 41869.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/1/8/6/41869 - - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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