(Vol. viii., pp. 242. 452. 626.)
I send two specimens from this neighbourhood, which may, perhaps, be worth
inserting in your columns.
The first is from a public-house on the Basingstoke road, about two miles
from this town. The sign-board exhibits on one side "the lively effigies"
of a grenadier in full uniform, holding in his hand a foaming pot of ale,
on which he gazes apparently with much complacency and satisfaction. On the
other side are these lines:
"This is the Whitley Grenadier,
A noted house for famous beer.
My friend, if you should chance to call,
Beware and get not drunk withal;
Let moderation be your guide,
It answers well whene'er 'tis try'd.
Then use but not abuse strong beer,
And don't forget the Grenadier."
The next specimen, besides being of a higher class, has somewhat of an
historical interest. In a secluded part of the Oxfordshire hills, at a
place called Collins's End, situated between Hardwick House and Goring
Heath, is a neat little rustic inn, having for its sign a well-executed
portrait of Charles I. There is a tradition that this unfortunate monarch,
while residing as a prisoner at Caversham, rode one day, attended by an
escort, into this part of the country, and hearing that there was a
bowling-green at this inn, frequented by the neighbouring gentry, struck
down to the house, and endeavoured to forget his sorrows for awhile in a
game at bowls. This circumstance is alluded to in the following lines,
which are written beneath the sign-board:
"Stop, traveller, stop; in yonder peaceful glade,
His favourite game the royal martyr play'd;
Here, stripp'd of honours, children, freedom, rank,
Drank from the bowl, and bowl'd for what he drank;
Sought in a cheerful glass his cares to drown,
And changed his guinea, ere he lost his crown."
The sign, which seems to be a copy from Vandyke, though much faded from
exposure to the weather, evidently displays an amount of artistic skill
that is not usually to be found among common sign-painters. I once made
some inquiries about it of the people of the house, but the only
information they could give me was that they believed it to have been
painted in London.