12 s. viii. FEB. 19, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 157 v't is also discernible on the corner of the house. The two numbers formed one house "externally, the whole of the ground floor being Owen's shop. After Wills's Coffee House ceased to exist the upper part was divided into two dwellings, the Lambs living at No. 20, not the corner house No. 21 -rated by Barry Cornwall. V. A. HUTCHIXSON. "To OUTRUN THE CONSTABLE " (12 S. viii. 29, 58, 97, 117). I gave the reference iiay's Proverbs just as I found it in ^Hudibras,' but not possessing the book v<;,s unable to check the reference. The meaning given'in ' Hudibras ' is quite clear, however, as will be seen from the quotation : Quoth Hudibras, friend Ralph, thou hast Out-run trie -constable at last : For thou art fallen on a new Dispute, as senseless as untrue, &c. W. A. HUTCHISON. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER (12 S. viii. 49, .'97). It may interest ST. SWITHIN (see i second reference) to know that there is no difficulty in obtaining ' Three Primers. ' 'The book is still in the Clarendon Press -Catalogue, p. 62;, the price 5s. R, W. C. THE GREEN MAX, ASHBOURNE (12 S. viii. 9, 77, 113). In reply to G. F. R. B.'s 'inquiry, The Ashbourne News of Jan. 28 courteously furnishes me with the following exhaustive information : "... .The late Rev. Francis Jourdain, M.A., who was vicar of Ashbourne, wrote an interesting
- artide on ' Ashbourne Signs
- Ancient and
Modern,' which appeared in The Ashbourne Annual in 1898 The Green Man, with which is 110 v inrorpor.-itt'd the Black's Head, is situated in St. John Street, Ashbourne. There are various explanations of this popular representation the sportsman ' clad in cote and hode of grene,' the wild man of the woods, and the herbalist distilling tis medicines from herbs, all claim to have original "d th" sign. In the last case it is generally known as the ' Green .Man and Still.' The poet Crab be writes : But 1he Green Man shall I pass by unsung, Wliich mine own .lames upon his sign-post hung? His sign, his image, for he was once seen lire's attendant, clad in keeper's green. Tli'-n follows th" reierencfi to Bosweli's visit to tit- hoslrlry, arid '.Mrs. Killingley's address. The ! . Joiirdain also wrote : ' Tli" Black's or Black-a-M,oor's Head,' now d with 1h<' '(Jreen .Man Hot*-],' was former! y paratc and very important est:ib!ishm'.-iit. It stood on the south side of St. John Sired. and oocnpi'-d th" range of houses now | in ISUs] ting the shops of .Messrs. Vitrky. { oole. and Muiple. 'I 1 }!-- sig i itself was Die "crest of tin- family, of which the Earl of Xewburgh was the titular head. In past days it was known as the 'Royal' or ' Holyoak's Hotel,' the grand- father of the present Mr. H. D. Holyoak [since decvusc'd] being then the landlord. It was the recognized inn for visitations of the clergy and archdeacon's courts, in iact it was devoted to all great functions. The assizes for the county were held there on December 10, 1748. The register informs us that in the year 1710 ' the performers (who had assisted in the organ opening) were entertained at dinner at the parish charge (service being ended about two o'clock), and at night at the signe of the Black-Moor's Head they made a line consort both of instrumentall and vocall musick, and so concluded the musick 01 ye day.' The sign may be that of a Virginian in the time of Sir Walter Raleigh, and as, that distinguished man once held property in Ash- bourne, I will not pronounce against his claim to be represented on our sign boards. I add some notes from the register, showing the antiquity of the house. Baptized March 4, 1712-3, Jona*- than, son of John Mellor, Black-Moor's II* ad. Buried April 8, 1709, Ralph Woodward, of Black- Moor's Head. Baptized Nov. 24, 1709, John, son of John Mellor, and Mary, his wife, innkeeper, of Black's Head, Ashbourne. Baptized August 16, 1717, James, son of Mr. John Mellor, of the Black-Moor's Head, Ashbourne. Not only were inquisitions and courts held here, but when the French nobility and clergy were driven from France at the end of tl:e last century, permission was granted from Quarter Sessions in the year 1804, for the Reverend Paul Roger, an emigre to celebrate divine service in this hostel for the benefit of his iellow countrymen." This should prove of interest to readers of ' N. & Q.' who may know this famous old hostelry. CECIL CLARKE. Junior Athenaeum Club. At the last reference a correspondent states that the Green Man, as the sign of an inn, originated from the green costume of gamekeepers, and, further back, from the green-clad morris -dancers; and another, that the sign probably represents a forester or park-keeper. None of these interpreta- tions is universally correct. Close to Port- land Road Station is a public-house with the legend the ' Green Man and Still,' which, in this instance at least, if not in the others also, undoubtedly refers to the herb- simpler and the apparatus in which he- distilled his waters and essences. (The once rural character of this district is further perpetuated in the public-house in Albany Street, bearing the sign of the Queen's Head and Artichoke,' on the site of the artichoke gardens which, in the reign of Elizabeth, covered the ground on which, within present memory, the old Coliseum, stood. In houses opposite to the ' Queen"*-; Head and Artichoke ' lived Frank Bucklaml and Signer Arditi.) PERSICUS.
