'my great misfortune I have entirely loft the relifh of it, and fhould now return to the country • with greater reluctance than I at first came to " court. I am fo unhappy, as to know that 'what I am fond of are trifles, and that what I 'neglect is of the greatest importance: in short, 'I find a conteft in my own mind between reafon and fashion. I remember you once told me, that I might live in the world, and out of it, at the fame time. Let me beg of you to ' explain this paradox more at large to me, that 'I may conform my life, if poffible, both to my duty and my inclination. I am, yours &c.

R*.

'R. B.'

Letters are directed For the SPECTATOR, to be left at Mr. Buckley's, in Little-Britain, Poft-paid. N. B. In the form of a Direction, this makes a figure in the laft column of the SPECT. in folio.

I

N° 28. Monday, April 2, 1711.

Neque femper arcum

Tendit Apollo.

HOR. 2 Od. x. 19.

Nor does Apollo always bend his bow.

SHALL here prefent my reader with a letter from a projector, concerning a new office which he thinks may very much contribute to the embellishment of the city, and to

By STEELE. See final Notes to N° 5; and N° 324.

the

the driving barbarity out of our streets. I confider it as a fatire upon projectors in general, and a lively picture of the whole art of modern criticifm.

'SIR,

:0

BSERVING that you have thoughts of creating certain officers under you, for the infpection of feveral petty enormities which you yourself cannot attend to; and finding daily abfurdities hung out upon the fign-pofts of this city, to the great scandal of foreigners, as well as thofe of our own country, who are curious fpectators of the fame. I do humbly propofe, that you would 'be pleased to make me your fuperintendant of all fuch figures and devices, as are or fhall be 'made ufe of on this occafion; with full powers to rectify or expunge whatever I fhall find irregular or defective. For want of fuch an officer, there is nothing like found literature and good fenfe to be met with in those objects, that are every where thrusting themselves out to

As the plan of this edition can only admit of references, or notes in the feweft words poffible, fuch as are curious to know the principles on which figns apparently fanciful may be traced to their originals with great probability, and often with certainty, must here be referred to the notes on the late edition of the TATLER, Vol. I. N° 18, Vol. III. N° 87, p. 32, and the additional note upon it; Vol. V. p. 415. would be very eafy to fhew, that this raillery lofes much of its poignancy, when paffing the fign-pofts at which it is levelled; it falls ultimately, as it muft do, on the devices of heraldry.

it

'the

'the eye, and endeavouring to become vifible. 'Our streets are filled with blue boars, black fwans, and red lions; not to mention flying pigs, and hogs in armour, with many ' other creatures more extraordinary than any in the deferts of Africk. Strange! that one who has all the birds and beafts in nature to choose 'out of, fhould live at the fign of an Ens Ra• tionis !

'My first task therefore should be, like that ' of Hercules, to clear the city from monsters. In the fecond place I would forbid, that crea"tures of jarring and incongruous natures, should 'be joined together in the fame fign; fuch as the bell and the neat's tongue, the dog and the 'gridiron. The fox and goofe may be fuppofed 'to have met, but what has the fox and the 'seven stars to do together? And when did the 'lamb and dolphin ever meet, except upon a 'fign-poft? As for the cat and fiddle, there is 'a conceit in it; and therefore I do not intend ' that any thing I have here faid fhould affect it. 'I must however obferve to you upon this fub'ject, that it is ufual for a young tradesman, at 'his first setting up, to add to his own fign that ' of the mafter whom he ferved; as the hufband, 'after marriage, gives a place to his mistress's 'arms in his own coat. This I take to have given rife to many of those abfurdities which are committed over our heads; and, as I am 'informed, firft occafioned the three nuns and 'a hare, which we fee fo frequently joined together. I would therefore establish certain VOL. I. ' rules,

M

rules, for the determining how far one tradefman may give the fign of another, and in what 'cafes he may be allowed to quarter it with his

' own.

In the third place, I would enjoin every shop to make use of a fign which bears fome affinity " to the wares in which it deals. What can be 'more inconfiftent, than to fee a bawd at the 'fign of the angel, or a tailor at the lion? A 'cook fhould not live at the boot, nor a fhoe'maker at the roafted pig; and yet, for want of this regulation, I have feen a goat fet up be'fore the door of a perfumer, and the French king's head at a fword cutler's.

'An ingenious foreigner obferves, that feveral of thofe gentlemen who value themselves upon their families, and overlook fuch as are 'bred to trade, bear the tools of their forefa< thers in their coats of arms. I will not exa'mine how true this is in fact. But though it may not be neceflary for pofterity thus to fet up the fign of their forefathers, I think it highly proper for thofe who actually profefs the trade, to fhew fome fuch marks of it before ⚫ their doors.

<

'When the name gives an occafion for an ingenious fign-post, I would likewise advise the owner to take that opportunity of letting the ' world know who he is. It would have been 'ridiculous for the ingenious Mrs. Salmon to have lived at the fign of the trout; for which ' reason fhe has erected before her house the figure of the fish that is her name fake. Mr. Bell

4

• has

'has likewise diftinguished himself by a device ' of the fame nature: and here, Sir, I must beg 'leave to obferve to you, that this particular figure of a bell has given occafion to several pieces of wit in this kind. A man of your reading must know, that Abel Drugger gained great applaufe by it in the time of Ben Johnfon. Our apocryphal heathen god is also reprefented by this figure; which, in conjunc'tion with the dragon, makes a very handsome 'picture in feveral of our streets.. As for the 'bell-favage, which is the fign of a favage man standing by a bell, I was formerly very much puzzled upon the conceit of it, till I accidentally fell into the reading of an old romance tranflated out of the French; which gives an account of a very beautiful woman who was 'found in a wilderness, and is called in the French La belle Sauvage; and is every where tranflated by our countryman the bell-favage. This piece of philofophy will, I hope, con'vince you that I have made fign-pofts my ftudy, and confequently qualified myself for 'the employment which I folicit at your hands. 'But before I conclude my letter, I must communicate to you another remark, which I have 'made upon the subject with which I am now entertaining you, namely, that I can give a 'fhrewd guefs at the humour of the inhabitant 'by the fign that hangs before his door. A furly choleric fellow generally makes choice of

* St. George.

+ See N° 66.

M 2

a bear;