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boar, we may presume, was a very common sign in the reign of Richard III. (though it was probably at that time most frequently represented white) in compliment to that Monarch, whose crest and one of whose supporters it was. In his reign, one William Collingbourn was executed for being the author of some verses on the King and his Ministers Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Sir William Catesby, and Lord Lovell, which began: "The Cat, the Rat, and Lovel our dogge, Rule all Englonde under an Hogge." And Shakspeare makes Richmond characterize his rival as

"A wretched bloody and devouring boar.” When Richard passed through Leicester immediately before the battle of Bosworth Field, he slept at an inn, which, according to tradition, was called the White Boar, but after the battle the landlord changed it to the Blue Boar, a name which it has ever since retained (though long disused as a public-house) and which has also given its appellation to the lane in which it is placed. Richard added to the College of Heralds, a pursuivant at arms, called, after his crest, Blanch-Sanglier, who had the mournful office of carrying his brave master's dead body, in a manner most dishonourable to the conqueror, perfectly naked, the feet hanging on one side, and the hands on the other, on the back of a horse to Leicester, where it was interred, Henry VII.abolished the title of Blanch Sanglier, and instituted that of Rouge Dragon, the armorial bearing of the Welsh Princes from whom he was descended. The change from the white to the blue boar would appear strange, as the latter was also à cognizance of York, was it not known that it was also the crest of those zealous Lancastrians, the De Veres, of whom the Earl of Oxford commanded the front line of Richmond's arwy at Bosworth on the memorable August 22, 1485. This family was a younger branch of the powerful house of Blois, and owned the Lordship of Vere or Terr Vere in Zealand. Their crest, a boar passant Azure, armed and bristled Or, was allusive; Vere or Veer in Dutch signifying boar.

BOAR'S HEAD. The tavern of this name of immortal memory in East Cheap, is now converted into two private dwellings, but still exhibits

the carving of a boar's head in stone, which is placed in front at the juncture of the two houses. Here Shakspeare has placed our hostess Quickley; and here has laid those scenes of unrivalled wit and humour between the "true prince" Hal, unimitated unimitable" Falstaff, with their companions, Bardolph, Nym, Peto, and Poins.

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The scene of Goldsmith's excellent Essay, No. 19, is also laid in this place.

The BOLT-IN-TUN, a large coach inn, in Fleet-street, London, obtains its name from a carving in stone which was once placed in the front of the house. This device was probably taken from the Priory of St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, at its dissolution, or from some building erected by the last Prior William Bolton, whose rebus it was; and at whose old mansion Canonbury House it still remains. The BOWLING-GREEN. The SKIT

TLE-GROUND. These two signs generally, but not always, denote, that such places of amusement are attached to the inns.

John Taylor, the water poet, in his works, says, that being asked who invented the game of bowls, he replied, "No doubt the philosopher Bias."

It is said (aud I almost fear that it may be found in "Honest Joe Miller") that Charles II. who was very fond of the green, having placed his bowl near to the Jack, exclaimed, "My soul to a horse-t-d nobody beats that!" to which the witty Rochester replied, "If your Majesty will lay odds, I'll take you."

In Ode xvi. of " Horace in London.” "Happy, for rural business fit, Who merely tills his mother wit, In humble life he settles, Unskill'd in repartee to shine, He ne'er exclaims Descend ye nine l' -But when he plays at skittles."

The BOXERS. The WRESTLERS. I am no enemy to those exhibitions of hardihood and prowess which these signs are intended to represent. That truly English statesman Mr. Windham, in a letter published in the Memoir of his Life by Amyot, prefixed to his "Speeches," says, "A smart contest this between Maddox and Richman! Why are we to boast so much of the native valour of our troops, as shewn at Talavera, at Vimiera, and at Maida, yet to discourage all the practices and habits which

tend

tend to keep alive the same sentiments and feelings? The sentiments that filled the minds of the three thousand spectators who attended the two pugilists, were just the same in kind as those which inspired the higher combatants on the occasions above enumerated. It is the circumstances only in which they are displayed, that make the difference.

'He that the world subdued had been But the best wrestler on the green.'

There is no sense in the answer always made to this, Are no men brave but boxers Bravery is found in all habits, classes, circumstances, and conditions. But have habits and institutions of one sort no tendency to form it more than of another? Longevity is found in persons of habits the most opposite; but are not certain habits more favourable to it than others? The courage does not arise from mere boxing, from the mere beating or being beat; but from the sentiments excited by the contemplation and cultivation of such practices. Will it make no difference in the mass of a people, whether their amusements are all of a pacific, pleasurable, and effeminate nature, or whether they are of a sort that calls forth a continued admiration of prowess and hardihood?" This, I own, appears to me unanswerable; and the subsequent conduct of our soldiers at Salamanca, Vittoria, the Pyrennees, Ortez, Toulouse, and at Waterloo, with the signal heroism of poor Shaw the life-guardsman of pugilistic notoriety, surely will not detract from its force.

Cornwall is celebrated for athletic

exercises, particularly wrestling. A "Cornish hug" has been long proverbial.

The BULL. BULL'S HEAD. BULL AND GATE. BULL AND MOUTH. The bull is a very frequent armorial bearing, and an equally frequent sign. We see it of almost all colours at our inns; but the black, red, and pied, are the prevailing. We learn from Mr. Ellis's memorandum, which has been before referred to, that the Black Bull was one of the cognizances of the house of York. The Red Bull was the sign of one of the principal antient theatres. The Bull in Bishopsgate-street, has acquired some celebrity as the London residence of Thomas Hobson the Cambridge carrier,

who erected the conduit there, and whose epitaph was written by Milton, He used to supply the students with horses, but, to give every horse its due proportion of rest and labour, would never let one out of its regular turn; whence originated the proverb of "Hobson's choice, this or none."

The Bull and Gate in Holborn, represented by a bull and a gate, is a corruption of" the Gate of Boulogne," a gate at Calais on the road to Boulogne; and the Bull and Mouth, a large coach inn, which has conferred its own name on the street in which it is placed, and exhibits a bull standing by the side of a monstrous human mouth, almost as large as the the mouth or harbour of Boulogne, bull itself, is a similar corruption of and the sign was probably intended originally as a compliment to Henry VIII. who took that sea-port in 1544.

The BUSH, the principal tavern at Bristol, and the Ivy BUSH, the head inn at Carmarthen, originated in the antient practice of hanging a bush at the door of those houses that sold wine, whence the proverb, good wine needs no bush.-Ivy was properly chosen for the doors of Vintners, that plant being dedicated to Bacchus, whose thyrsus it entwined.— An innkeeper in Aldersgate-street, London, when Charles I. was beheaded, had the carved representation of a bush at his house painted black, and the tavern was long afterwards known by the name of the Mourning Bush in Aldersgate. I wish that the sign were revived, as a memorial of a man who had the courage so conspicuously to display his loyalty at such a time to an unfortunate Sovereignmore sinned against than sinning." Yours, &c. HINYBORO.

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Mr. URBAN, Abbots Roding, Feb.25,

"Fœcunda culpæ sæcula."

WHETHER we live in the crowd

ed streets of the Metropolis, or whether we are the humble tenants of the village who are passing our days at a distance from the busy world in privacy and retirement, such as we possess in this sequestered vale from which I am now addressing you; painful is the tale, and melancholy to narrate-that we are in each situation encircled by thieves and robbers, and by bloody-minded men, who are

strangers

strangers to all the finer feelings of our nature: possessing merely the external form, the outward and visible sign of a human being.

There has been no age of the world so prolific in the parturition of crimes of every description, as the age in which we live. There are even infants, who rob by day; whilst the more experienced are waiting only for the darkness of the night for the diabolical purpose of seeking whom they may devour.

In adverting to the horrid crime of murder, when we recollect the numerous acts by which man's blood has been shed by man within a very short space of time, so that the frequency of murder may be said full often to have been by wholesalequis temperet a lacrymis? Harder than the nether millstone must be the heart, and unfeeling beyond all expression, whose sympathetic pity and compassion has not been excited by the heavy affliction into which the surviving branches of the family have been thrown by the wicked and cruel assassination of a father and mother, of a brother and sister. The savage murders which have been committed within our memory, at Chiselhurst, at Ratcliff Highway, and more recently at Guilford, and at Greenwich-not excluding numerous other instances, where the Coroner's Inquest has failed in discovering the unknown murderer, or where the felon has died by the hands of the executioner-how greatly would society stand indebted to any one individual in the community, whose enlightened mind by heavenly wisdom could point out the happy means of restraining within their proper channel the turbulent passions of mankind; or of coercing, by the introduction of moral habits, the ferocious disposition of man, who, not having the fear of God before his eyes, delights in scattering fire-brands, arrows, and death! Much as it may be to be wished, that to accomplish so benevolent a design, some plan might be suggested and adopted for the happiness of mankind in general; yet it confessedly will be allowed, that the attempt would not be less difficult of success than the task and labour of cleansing the Augean stable. Still some amelioration might follow the good design of any one in devising even the

simplest of methods to render every man's house his castle of defence and security; and to defeat the cruelty and violence of the desperate villain, who spares neither the feebleness of age, the tenderness of sex, or the helpless state of infancy. With this view I shall beg leave to throw out for public consideration a measure, easy in its adoption, and bidding fair in its consequences to protect from the danger of robbery, and murder, our friends and our families.

In hope of giving probability of success in defeating, the lurking villain, who, having left the paths of honest and industrious labour, has made robbery his trade; who with a prying eye surveys where and by what means he shall make his attack with good effect, well knowing at what receiving-house he can exchange his stolen goods, and receive the tenth part of their value, or much less it may be; I would recommend to every householder to retain in their service a faithful creature, more vigilant than any of the most faithful guardians of the night. To families resident in town or country, I would recommend an animal in God's creation, to which Divine Providence seems to have interwoven in his nature a peculiar sense, an attachment to the person, and a fidelity of service to his master, beyond any other part of the animal creation. This centinel of the night would suffer no footstep of any individual to pass unnoticed. Unterrified by danger he would suffer no theft, or robbery, or murder, to be committed, without raising from the deepest sleep every individual in the house. Even the smallest in size would defy the strength and power of the boldest and most daring of villains. No bribe would tempt him to betray his trust, or to silence the expressive language, which loudly bespoke by sounds the most intelligent that he could utter; announcing, that the castle was not only besieged, but that the walls were scaled, and a forcible entry made.

Of the certain and infinite use of a little dog within doors, the late Sir John Fielding-who though deprived of the blessing of sight-yet mores hominum multorum vidit-who was thoroughly conversant in the habits of thieves and vagabonds, and rogues of every description-has been known

to

to aver, that there could be no security within the doors of our houses of equal value and dependence as that to be placed upon one of these faithful animals.

In confirmation of an opinion so decisive, and so justly to be relied upon, from the wisdom and experience of the Justice, let me bring forward to notice the following experimental fact: In the absence of a family from their residence in the country, some thieves entered the house by night: the servants were sleeping above in perfect security, without apprehension of danger-not so the little spaniel that was left bebind nothing could stop its clamorous notes, or détain it from incessantly running to and fro, to call from their apartments the sleeping servants. The robbers were of course disturbed; and the fearful servants, not daring to venture the safety of their persons by encountering the midnight robber, discovered in the morning that they had carried away from one of the lower apartments a few articles of dress.

There can be no doubt, but one of these little creatures, admitted within our houses, fed, nourished, and instructed for docile to an inconceivable degree is the creature, with exemplary gratitude worthy of the more rational being to follow-would shed the last drop of his blood to defend the family under whose roof he was caressed, and fondly treated. The dog, which gathers up the crumbs under my table, so expressively watches my eye, and every motion that I make, that mutual becomes my reliance and dependance upon the unfeigned sincerity of his actions. So far from being capable of betraying bis trust from want of vigilance and courage, that I am fully persuaded, he would sacrifice his life to protect mine. The dark assassin, who should rashly approach my bedside with a dagger in his hand, he would seize by the throat, though the villain should plunge the weapon in his breast.

Not

That these dumb beasts speak a language easy to be understood, with the smallest attention to their notes, is evident to demonstration. very long since I was awakened, in the course of the night, from a very sound sleep by the barking of my dog. Rising from my pillow to ascertain

whether the alarm was deserving of attention, I quickly found, that not false was the notice which he so clamorously gave. Upon discovering that the robbery in action was in one of the out-buildings, I deemed it most prudent, being less in size than most men, not to venture beyond the threshold of my door, to cope with the strong arm of some more muscular assailant. In the morning I discovered that I had sustained some loss; but consoled myself in reflecting, that I had a more valuable property in possession, the mens suna in corpore sano. That in the scale of profit and loss, I retained on one side an uninjured frame of body; and that on the other, a little well-regulated temper of mind would shortly reconcile me to bear, with Christian philosophy, the loss of a few pounds, shillings, and pence.

To such recommendation in favour of dogs, as the best of centinels, let me add the history of a remarkable portrait, which I remember to have seen many years ago at Ditchley, the seat of the late Earl of Litchfield. The portrait represented an ancestor of the family with a large dog by his side, and an inscription over him, containing the following narrative:That Mr. Lee having been confined by indisposition to his bed-chamber, the mastiff dog made his way into his chamber. The servants in vain endeavoured to remove him; but the growling dog resisting all their ef forts, Mr. Lee signified his pleasure, that the dog might remain in the room. The history goes on to show, as our conductor through the different apartments informed us, that in the dead of night an assassin entered the chamber, and was instantly seized by the dog. The noise and alarm quickly brought assistance to the spot. The confession of the villain was, that expecting to have found Mr. Lee in his sick-bed, helpless and defenceless, his intention was to rob and murder him.

This is the portrait of Sir Henry Lee, who is mentioned by Pennant, in his "London," and who has given a portrait of Sir H. Lee, and his trusty dog. Sir H. Lee was buried at Quarendon Chapel, Bucks, (see our last Volume, part ii. pp. 106, 489.) A good drawing of Sir H. Lee's Monument would be very acceptable. EDIT.

It

It will not be expected that I should solve the improbability of this historical narrative; or, with the strong prejudice which I retain for the innate sagacity of the canine race, that I should vouch for the authenticity of the fact so related. At the same time it may be asserted to have been very possible, without having recourse to the miraculous interposition of the Deity in this particular instance, that in the chapter of accidents it might have so happened, that the Dog, without any foresight or any invisible direction from a superior power, found access to the chamber, from which he would suffer no one to compel him to retreat. And it might likewise so have happened without any preconcerted cause and effect, that, by a peculiarity of co-inciding circumstances, the villain had accidentally designated that particular night for the purpose of carrying his infamous plan into execution.

To these thoughts, suggested to give us comfort and security in our respective habitations-to add courage to the weak and timid, by taking under their protection a guardian faithful and true, fearless and undaunted in the midst of danger, be the attack ever so bold and desperate; I shall close the subject-a subject of no small interest to our domestic peace and safety-with the commendatory advice of Horace :

"Vive, vale. Si quid novisti rectius istis,

Candidus imperti: si non, his utere mecum." EP.

Yours, &c. WM. CHARLES DYER.

"THE DETECTED."-No. III.

"Judicis argutum." "The logic sharpness of the critic mind." HE moral candour of Critic feelings being defined, the only thing that remains to be done is, by application, the practical utility of that morality, in the perusal of any composition whose merits or demerits are to be the subject of analytical investigation. Before the attempt is made of the judicial part, with perspicuity or severity the mind, in candid silence, to itself ought to administer a powerful, perhaps unpleasant interrogatory, Can I compose as well as this?" and the answer upon most occasions will disarm the feelings of severity, GENT. MAG. April, 1818.

and place in its stead, by the removal of blindness, discernment. To obtain discernment, not only natural talents, but education by industrious application must form and strengthen them for its important and judicial destination. We are told by the happiest observer of intellectual nature, that the first instructive impressions should be observed with a sacred care, for all impressions first communicated will adhere with unalterable tinge through life,

"Quæ semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem

Testa diu."

The best selections of Greece and Rome have, in every good English writer, left the characters of their genius and their virtue, though clothed in varied language, to be recog nised in all the pages stamped with universal approbation. The chastity of thought, the unincumbered nealness of expression, rarely flow naturally from the untaught writer; though the fire of genius, and the acuteness of remark may; but yet they inevitably betray the regretted deficiency of education, with the same feature that they shew the gift of heaven. The Critic must condescend to the trammels of education for his acquirement of knowledge; he must then collect, and afterwards learn to separate, his treasures. He must view the unbounded original of Nature, before he can appreciate, by praise or censure, the delineation of the author. These qualifications are silently, though powerfully implied: these are the rudiments of judgment -but to be a Critic, he must have a still higher gift, not to be acquired but to be improved by education, Taste; taste is to judgment, what genius is to sense.

Composition is the most useful exercise for the Critic's mind-it will shew the difficulty of forming that work which he has to view, and to appreciate; this will give him literary charity; and when he has recognised, from the stores of his learning, the happier adoption of some otherwise cheerless and dull passage from a classic author, he will be able to do justice to the protector of a foundling restored to suspended animation, and perhaps to a longevity of reputation. Composition, when, in aca

demic

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