_Blue Bell and Blue Anchor_ (Vol. viii., p. 388.).--Your correspondent [Old
English W]. inquires the origin of the sign-boards of the "Blue Bell" and
the "Blue Anchor?" I have always understood that the sign of the Bell,
painted blue, was intended as a substitute for the little Scotch flower
bearing the name of the _blue-bell_. I believe it is either the blue flower
of the flax, or that of the wild blue hyacinth, which in shape much
resembles a bell. It was probably much easier to draw the metallic figure
than the flower, and hence its use by the primitive village artists. As to
the "Blue Anchor," the anchor is the well-known symbol of Hope, and blue
her emblematic colour. Hence this adaptation is less a solecism than that
of the bell for the hyacinth.