“True sportsmen know nor dread nor fear, Each rides, when once the saddle in, As if he had a neck to spare, Just like the Swan in Ladlane.”
Notwithstanding the “double bill” suggested by the two heads, it still continues a favourite inn sign. Four is rather an unusual number on the signboard, but we have this quadruple alliance in one solitary instance, the FOUR SWANS, Bishopsgate, which is internally one of the best remaining examples of those famous galleried inns of old London.
The SWAN AND BOTTLE, Uxbridge, is a variation of the Cock and Bottle; the SWAN AND RUMMER was a coffee-house near the Exchange, during the South Sea bubble--the Rummer, a common addition, being simply joined to the Swan, to intimate that wine was sold; the SWAN AND SALMON are combined on many signs, doubtless in honour of the two ornaments of our English rivers. The very name is sufficient to call up a pleasant picture.
The SWAN AND HOOP, Moorfields, was the birthplace of Keats the poet. The Swan on the Hoop, “on the way called old Fysshe Strete,” is mentioned as early as 1413.[301] The same combination may still be seen on London signboards.
With regard to the SWAN AND SUGARLOAF, which occurs amongst the trades tokens, and is still seen, (as in Fetter Lane, for instance,) the sugarloaf was at first added by a grocer, whose sign having gained popularity as a noted landmark, or from other causes, was imitated by rivals or juniors, particularly on account of its presenting the favourite alliteration. Combinations with the sugarloaf are very common, all arising from its being the grocer’s sign: thus the THREE CROWNS AND SUGARLOAF, Kidderminster; WHEATSHEAF AND SUGARLOAF, Ratcliff Highway, seventeenth century, (trades token;) TOBACCO ROLL AND SUGARLOAF, Gray’s Inn Gate, Holborn;[302] the THREE COFFINS AND SUGARLOAF, Fleet Street, 1720.
In the sign of the SWAN AND RUSHES, at Leicester, the rushes were merely a pictorial accessory, placed in the background to bring out the white plumage of the Swan, whilst the SWAN AND HELMET, at Northampton, no doubt originated from a helmet with a Swan for crest.
In one instance, a DRAKE occurs as a sign, namely, on the token of Will. Johnson, at “ye Drake in Bell Yard,” near Temple Bar, 1667. The Duck is only to be seen in company with the Dog; in one instance it accompanies a Mallard. This last animal was otherwise well known to the Londoners, since in 1520, amongst “the articles of good gouernãce of the cite of London,” it was recommended to magistrates--“also ye shall enquyre, yf ony person kepe or norrysh hoggis, oxen, kyen, or _mallardis_ within the ward in noying of ther neyhbours.”[303] The DUCK AND MALLARD was the sign of a lock (and probably gun-) smith in East Smithfield in 1673.[304]