many years. These were accustomed to meet, to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of their progenitors. At one of these meetings it became a matter of dispute which of them was entitled to enter first, and take the head of the table, which had like to have terminated fatally, but for the presence of mind of John de Groat, proprietor of the ferry, who remonstrated with them; pointed out the necessity of unanimity as regarded their own happiness, their respectability among their neighbours, and general safety from the inroads of those clans who might envy them, and take advantage of their dissensions. He then proposed the building of a house, to which they should contribute equally; and he promised at their next meeting he should so order matters, as to prevent any dispute about precedency. Having gained their assent, he proceeded to build a house, with a distinct room of an octagonal form, having eight doors and eight windows, in which he placed a table of oak, with eight sides. At the next annual meeting he desired each to enter singly at different doors, and take the head of the table, himself entering the last, and taking the remaining unoccupied seat. By this ingenious manoeuvre they were all placed on an equal footing, and good-humour and harmony were restored and established. Such was the origin of the sign of "John o' Groat's house."

VALENTINE AND ORSON.

There is a house so named in Long Lane, Bermondsey. It would appear to have originated with some romantic reader, who had been affected with the tale of these two brothers, who were sons of the Emperor of Constantinople, Alexander, who married the beautiful sister of Pepin, king of France, named Bellisant; who being banished by the Emperor during her pregnancy, having been falsely accused by his prime minister, she took refuge in the forest of Orleans, in France, where she was delivered of male twins: one of which was taken from her by a she-bear, and suckled by it for some time, hence called Orson. The other being discovered by the king, Pepin her brother, during her search after Orson, was brought up at the court of his uncle. Orson being a terror to the neighbourhood when he grew up, was overcome by his brother, and tamed so far as to be brought to court. Shortly after overcoming the Green Knight, he received the hand of the Lady Fezon, previous to which he had attained the power of speech; and Valentine married Eglantine, the king's daughter, when they discovered they were cousins.

THE GUY'S HEAD.

This sign was intended to do honour to the philanthropy of Mr. Thomas Guy, who founded the hospital in the Borough which bears his name, and which cost the sum of £18,793: 16:1; and the sum left for its endowment was £219,499 :0:4.

BLACK DOLL AT RAG SHOPS.

The Black Doll, used as a sign by the dealers in rags, is by some supposed to have originated with a person who kept a house for the sale of toys and rags in Norton Flogate, about eighty years ago. An old woman brought him a large bundle for sale, but desired it might remain unopened until she called again to see it weighed. Several weeks elapsed without her appearing, which induced the master of the shop to open the bundle, when he found a black doll, neatly dressed, with a pair of gold earrings appended. This he hung up over his door, for the purpose of being owned by the woman who left it. Shortly after this she called, and presented the doll to the shopkeeper, as a mark of gratitude for his having, by its means, enabled her to find out her bundle. The story having gained circulation, this figure has been generally used by dealers in rags, ever since this original instance of honesty in this class of merchants. Such is the romance of the black doll; the reality will be found, we believe, in the fact, that cast off clothes having formerly been purchased by dealers in large quantities, for the purpose of being resold to merchants, to be exchanged by them in traffic with the uncivilised tribes, who it is known will barter any thing for articles of finery; a black doll gaily dressed out, was adopted as the sign of such dealers in old apparel.

PUBLIC-HOUSE CHEQUERS.

Few people, it is presumed, are aware of the origin of the Chequers, which are seen on the sides of the doors or window shutters of public-houses. By some it is said, that they represent the arms of a nobleman in whom the right of licensing was formerly invested. By others, they have been regarded as an intimation that the game of tables might be played therein by the customers. But whatever be its origin, this mark of a house of entertainment boasts of a very high antiquity; for on the sides of the doorway of one of the houses at Pompeii, the Chequers are still seen, and which is supposed to have been an inn.

THE BELL SAVAGE.

The etymology of the Bell Savage on Ludgate Hill, has been variously, but very incorrectly given; the following, however, may be relied on as correct. The Bell Savage, now called le belle Sauvage, took its name from those premises once being the property of lady Arabella Savage, who made a deed of gift of them to the Cutlers' Company; corroborative of which, a painting may be seen in Cutlers' Hall, representing her ladyship, accompanied by her conveyancer, presenting the said deed of gift to the Master and Wardens of the aforesaid company.

THE BOLT-IN-TUN.

A game the Roman and Grecian youth were wont to exercise themselves in. The bolt was a short javelin, and the tun was placed as a kind of target; he who threw the bolt through a small hole in the tun, being declared victor. The origin of this sign is given by authors, as being the monogram of the Abbot Bolton, who bore for his device a Bolt in a Tun, as may be seen in the Abbot's window in the church of Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield.

THE BULL AND MOUTH, AND BULL AND GATE.

The two inns here named, are a strong specimen of the corruption so prevalent in the designation of public resorts in and about the city of London, indeed throughout the whole country. The original names were Boulogne-Mouth and Boulogne-Gate, in commemoration of the destruction of the French flotilla at the mouth of Boulogne harbour, and of the capitulation of the town being signed at the gate of Boulogne in the reign of Henry VIII. The Bull and Mouth is now called the Queen's Hotel.

DOG AND DUCK TAVERN.

The sign of this once very popular tavern, took its name from a famous dog which hunted ducks in a sheet of water on this spot. Over a low small-gabled-end fronted house, was seen, in an oblong square place, moulded in a kind of red composition, the dog and duck.

SPREAD EAGLE.

The Spread Eagle, which constitutes with some variations the arms of Austria and Prussia, originated with Charlemagne, the first Emperor of Germany, who added the second head to the Eagle, to denote that the empires of Rome and Germany were in him united. This was A.D. 802.

NONESUCH HOUSE!

We have seen in the neighbourhood of London, and in various parts of the country," Nonesuch House," or "Nonesuch Cottage," &c. This term originated from the residence of Hans Holbein, the celebrated painter to Henry VIII., which stood on London Bridge. It was entirely framed of wood, was made in Holland, and when placed on the bridge was completed without a single nail; in consequence of which, Sir Thomas More christened it, "Nonesuch House!" and which has since become a cognomen for various residences and villas throughout the country.

COAL-HOLE TAVERN.

A tavern so called in Fountain Court, Strand, a well-known site for midnight gossiping. Here the most celebrated comedians

have long entertained their private convivial friends after they have delighted the town. Here, too, certain poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, and other ingenious wights, who prefer late hours, a smoky room, and hilarity, to the sober comforts of domestic home, waste the night in glorious independence, fearless of the curtain lecture that appals the uxorious wight, who sometimes trespasses against the orders of the house. The Coal-hole merely derives its name from its gloomy situation, and its original contiguity to a coal-yard.

BLOSSOMS INN.

The Blossoms Inn, Lawrence Lane, derives its name from the rich borders of flowers which adorned the original sign of St. Lawrence. These were the effects of his martyrdom-" for," says the legend, "flowers sprung up on the spot of his cruel martyrdom.'

CATHERINE WHEEL.

Alban Butler says, St. Catherine was beheaded under the Emperor Mexentius, or Maximinus the Second. He adds, "she is said first to have been put upon an engine made of four wheels, joined together and stuck with sharp pointed spikes, that when the wheels were moved her body might be torn to pieces. At the first stirring of this terrible engine, the cords with which the martyr was tied were broke asunder by the invisible power of an angel, and, the engine falling to pieces by the wheels separating one from another, she was delivered from that death." Hence the name of St. Catherine's Wheel. It has also given name to a peculiar form of window in Gothic architecture, in which the spokes of a wheel are represented. It thus differs from the Marigold window, the compartments of which are shaped like the petals of that flower.

THE THREE LEGS.

This public-house sign, and which is more general in the country than in London, is the arms of the Isle of Man. Its ancient bearing was a ship; but the arms are now, and have been for centuries, gules "three armed legs" proper, or rather argent, conjoined in fess at the upper part of the thigh, fleshed in triangle, garnished and spurred topaz. So long as the King of Man wrote Rex Manniae et Insularum, they bore the ship; but when the Scots had possession, with the Western Islands, the legs were substituted. It is said of the "three legs," that with the toe of the one they spurn at Ireland, with the spur of the other they kick at Scotland, and with the third they bow to England.

TUMBLE DOWN DICK!

This sign, once so well known in that part of the borough of Southwark, near to London Bridge, was set up on the restoration

of Charles II., and was intended as a burlesque on Richard Cromwell, who had too much simplicity and honesty to manage the reins of government, which devolved on him on the death of his father.

LARK-HALL TAVERN.

This place is of great antiquity; it stood in the midst of meadows and corn-fields, and was much resorted to by birdcatchers, who frequented this place with their nets; and in time it became noted, and much resorted to by the Londoners on Sundays, who came here to purchase larks, and other singingbirds, from the bird-catchers, from whence it was called Lark-hall. At this period also, the bath-room, which now stands at the brow of the hill, a quarter of a mile west of Lark-hall, towards Clapham, was much frequented; and the spring which now supplies the present bath was also reckoned very salubrious, and boasted many fashionable visiters during the summer months; but there being no high-road, both that and the Lark were inacessible in the winter months.

Over the entrance to Lark-hall tavern, is the following whimsical notice, which must be read backwards to be understood,—"Tsurt Tonnac I; nos duh sie Man Ym,ts uje Ru Saem dna, doogro uQil hTiW."

GOLDEN FLEECE.

This sign, supposed to be the most ancient of any, and which we meet with in almost every provincial town, has a classical derivation; applying to the Golden Fleece which was brought from Colchis by Jason, about 1263 years before Christ.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS, INNS OF COURT, WARDS, CHURCHES, STREETS AND LOCALITIES OF LONDON AND WESTMINSTER.

LONDON.

The first mention we find of the City of London in history, says Maitland, is by the illustrious and celebrated Roman historian, Tacitus, by the appellation of Londinium, when he acquaints us that Suetonius Paulinus, the Roman general, being employed in the conquest of the Isle of Mona, or Anglesey, in North Wales, he received advice of the revolt of the Britons; wherefore, with the utmost expedition, he began his march to the assistance of the veterans and colonies; and, marching through the midst of the enemy, arrived at London, which then was celebrated for its great number of merchants, and plenty of merchandise.