Old London Taverns Identified With Masonry.

etymology of the lianms of persons and places , the various old signt may be studied Avith advantage . In many other Avays the historic importance of house-signs could be shown .

* * ¦ : . # * ¦» * * - Anecdotes and historical facts have been introduced with a double view : first , as authentic proofs of the existence and age of the sign ; secondly , in the hope that they may afford variety ancl entertainment . They will call up many a p icture of the

olden time ; many a trait of bygone manners and customs—old shops and residents , old modes of transacting business ; in short , much that is now extinct and obsolete . There is a peculiar pleasure in pondering over these old housesancl

, picturing them to ourselves as again inhabited by the busy tenants of former years ; in meeting the great names of history in the hours of relaxation , in calling up the scenes which must have been often witnessed in the haunt of the

pleasure-seeker , —the tavern Avith its noisy company , the coffee-house with its politicians and smart beaux ; and , on the other hand , the quiet , unpretending shop of the ancient bookseller , filled Avith the monuments of the departed minds . Such scraps of history may help to picture old

London as it appeared during the last three centuries . For the contemplative mind there is some charm even in getting at the names and occupations of the former inmates of the house IIOAV only remembered by the signs ; in tracingby means of

, these house decorations , their modes of thought or their ideas of humour , and in rescuing from oblivion a few little anecdotes and minor facts of history connected with the houses before Avhich those signs SAvung in the air .

It is Avell knoAvn that in these early days Loclges in England met in taverns , and Avere distinguished each by the name or sign of the tavern where it assembled . No other name designated it , nor Avere numbers then used as now to particularize

a Lodge . This nomenclature Avas the prevailing one in 1761 , and probably existed after Avards . From the record Avhich I have cited , it apppears that the " four old Lodges of London" met , respectfully , at the Goose ancl Gridiron , the Groion , the Apple-Tree and the Bummer and Grapes taverns , in

1716 , ancl that the Grand Lodge of England Avas organized at " the said Applem J ) Free . On page 239 of The History of Sign-Boards , mention is made of those places of public resort—now eminently historical

from the stand-point of Freemasons—as follows : At the Apple-Tree Tavern in Charles Street , Covent Garden , four of the leading London Freemasons' lodges , considering themselves neglected by Sir Christopher

Wren in 1716 , met and choose a Grand Master , pro tern ., until they should be able to place a noble Brother at the head , Avhich they did the year folloAving , electing the Duke of Montague . Sir Christopher had been chosen in 1698 . The three

lodges that joined Avith the Apple-Tree Lodge used to meet respectively at the Goose and Gridiron , St . Paul ' s Churchyard ; the Crown , Parker ' s Lane- ; and at the Bummer and Grapes TaA'ern , Westminster . * The Goose and Gridiron stood on the

spot previously occupied by the Mitre , a music house , " near the west end of St . Paul's Church , 1664 . " The Goose and Gridiron occurs at "Woodhall , Lincolnshire , ancl in a feAV other localities : —The Mitre Avas a celebrated music-house , in London House Yard , at the N . W . end of St . Paul ' s . When it

ceased to be a music-house , the succeedin g landlord , to ridicule its former destiny , choose for his sign a goose stroking the bars of a gridiron Avith his foot , in ridicule of the Swan and Harp , a common sign for the early music-houses . Such an ori gin does the Tailer give , but it may also be a

vernacular reading of the coat of arms of the company of musicians , suspended probably at the door of the Mitre when it Avas a music-house . These arms are , a swam Avith his Avings expanded , Avithin a double tressnre , counter , flory , argent . This double tressnre might have suggested a a gridiron to unsophisticated passers-by .