Early Inns and Taverns through tradesmens tokens - Great Eastcheap to Execution dock
This is a historical site about early London coffee Houses and Taverns and will also link to my current pub history site and also The London street directory
LONDON TRADERS, TAVERN, AND COFFEE-HOUSE TOKENS, CURRENT 1649-1672. :
Index of Tradesmens tokens.
EAGLE STREET.
B900 . Obverse. RICHARD . DIXON . LIVEING = R . D . M.
R. IN. EAGLE. STREET. 1671= HIS HALF PENY.
GREAT EASTCHEAP.
#421 THE BORES HEAD TAV[E]RNE Boar's head, in field.
Rev. IN GREAT EAST . CHEAP In the field, I. I. B.
" The Bore's Head neere London Stone," enumerated with other taverns in the rare
tract entitled Newes from Bartholomew Fayre, is doubtless that which Shakespeare
has so memorably described as the scene of Prince Hal's vagaries, and the
drunken debaucheries of Sir John Falstaff and his more humble dependants,
Bardolph, Pistol, and Doll Tearsheet. They are all flourishes of Shakespeare's
poetical fancy, and have no other identity than as the creation of the inspired
mind of England's dramatic bard. Eastcheap, in the days of Henry the Fourth, was
noted as the arena of cooks' shops, and as such is eternized in the ballad of
London Lackpenny*, written by John Lidgate, monk of Bury, who was certainly in
the metropolis, and witnessed the triumphal entry of King Henry the Fifth into
London, on St. Clement's day, 1415 : but the Boar's Head tavern had possibly no
earlier origin than the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; when, in compliment to John
de Vere, earl of Oxford and lord great chamberlain, who resided in almost regal
magnificence at his house by London Stone, and died there in 1562, the boar's
head might have originated in the blue boar being the cognizance of that
nobleman.
Shakespeare, Burbage, Ben Jonson, and the bevy of geniuses of his day are said
to have frequented the house, in their way over London bridge to the theatres
in South wark and the Bankside, or on their return ; and it became, by their
means, a house of distinguished general resort ; certain it is, Shakespeare's
immortal pen has conferred an imperishable notoriety upon the Boar's Head tavern
in Eastcheap ; while there are one or two points that show the dramatist threw
back to an anterior time the customs and practices of his own ; constituting an
almost unpardonable anachronism.
Prior to 1543, vintners sold no other wines than red and white claret. The
sweet, and all other wines, were till 1541, the thirty-third year of King Henry
the Eighth, in use by the apothecaries only, for compounding of medicines. Among
the sweet wines was the far-famed sack, that when first sold at taverns by
licence, at the last-mentioned date, was rarely more than from sixpence to
eightpence per quart, yet the charges in Dame Quickly's bill, demanded from the
memorable Jack, the prince of debauchees, are to the following purport :
" Item, a capon, 2s. 2c?.
Item, sauce, 4c?.
Item, sack, two gallons, 5s. 8d.
Item, anchovies and sack after supper, 2s. 6d.
Item, bread, a half-penny!"
An unequivocal tavern bill of the Elizabethan period. Sack was not vendible in
taverns, nor did it bear any such value per gallon, in King Henry the Fourth's
reign. Query, did Shakespeare leave it to be inferred that Dame Quickly had a
double nick in her chalk ? or was it to be implied that long credit, and but
little chance of payment, might occasion the overcharge ? An explanation is
possibly to be derived from the amount of wrongs Dame Quickly had received from
Falstaff ' s excesses *. Shakespeare has recorded her exclamation before the
lord chief justice, when she complains
" O my most worshipful lord, an please your grace, I am a poor widow of
Eastcheap, and he is arrested at my suit.
Chief Justice. For what sum ?
Mrs. Quickly. It is more than for some, my lord ; it is for all, all I have ; he
hath eaten me out of house and home, and hath put all my substance into that fat
belly of his."
The tavern token of the Boar's Head is anterior to the fire of September, 1666,
when the building was wholly destroyed, not a vestige remaining. The token is of
extreme rarity, and is wanting in most cabinets.
* Stow's transcript of the ballad, in the London historian's autograph, will be
found in Harl. MS. 542. The verse referring to Eastcheap reads thus :
" Then I hied me into Estchepe :
One cried ribes of befe, and many a pie ;
Pewter potts they clatteryd on a heape,
Ther was harpe, pipe, and sawtry.
Yea by Cokke, Nay by Cokke, some began to cry,
Some sang of Jenken and Julian to get themselues mede ;
Full fayne I wold hade of that minstralsie,
But for lacke of money I cowld not spede."
The "sawtry," or psaltery, was an instrument of the harp kind. Another but
inferior version of Lidgate 's ballad is contained in Harl. MS. 367.
#422 IOHN SAPCOTT AT Ye BORES HED Boar's head, in field.
Rev. TAVERNE IN GREAT EASTCHEAP HIS ID I. E. S.
The Boar's Head tavern was rebuilt in 1668, after the fire; and above one of the
first-floor windows, the sign of the Boar's Head, with I. T., and the above
date, was placed. Possibly Sapcott then became the tenant, as tokens wholly
ceased to circulate in 1672.
How long the Boar's Head maintained its distinction as a tavern the writer is
unable to determine. In the churchyard of St. Michael, Crooked lane, was
formerly a tablet " to the Memory of Robert Preston, late drawer at the Boar's
Head tavern in Great East Cheap, who departed this life March 16th, A. D. 1730,
aged twenty-seven years," followed by ten lines in commendatory verse, printed
in the London Magazine for August 1733, which declare him to have been a paragon
of excellence, and more than that, " He drew good wine, took care to fill his
pots," and was moreover a pattern " in measure and attendance."
* Can he forget, who has read Goldsmith's nineteenth essay, his Reverie at the
Boar's Head tavern in Eastcheap ? when, having confabulated with the landlord
till long after " the watchman had gone twelve," and, suffused in the potency of
his wine, a mutation in his ideas, of the person of the host into that of Dame
Quickly, mistress of the tavern in the days of Sir John, is promptly effected,
and the liquor they were drinking seemed shortly converted into sack and sugar.
Mrs. Quickly 's recital of the history of herself and Doll Tearsheet, whose
frailties in the flesh caused their being both sent to the house of correction,
charged with having allowed the famed Boar's Head to become a low brothel ; her
speedy departure to the world of spirits; and Falstaff's impertinencies as
affecting Madame Proserpine, are followed by an enumeration of persons who had
held tenancy of the house since her time. The last hostess of note was,
according to Goldy's account, Jane Rouse, who having unfortunately quarrelled
with one of her neighbours, a woman in high repute in the parish for sanctity,
but as jealous as Chaucer's Wife of Bath, was by her accused of witchcraft,
taken from her own bar, condemned, and executed accordingly! These were times,
indeed, when women could not scold in safety. These and other prudential
apophthegms on the part of Dame Quickly seem to have dissolved Goldsmith's
stupor of ideality ; on his awaking, the landlord is really the landlord, and
not the hostess of a former day, when " Falstaff was in fact an agreeable old
fellow, forgetting age, and showing the way to be young at sixty-five. Age,
care, wisdom, reflection, begone ! I give you to the winds. Let's have t'other
bottle. Here's to the memory of Shakespeare, Falstaff, and all the merry men of
Eastcheap."
Longford, the celebrated auctioneer, formerly of the great piazza, Covent
Garden, announced for sale on May 28th, 1756, some leasehold messuages in St.
Michael's, Crooked lane, " at the Boar's Head tavern in Cannon street."
Dr. Goldsmith appears to have written his Reverie in 1758, or early in the
following year; but when John Carter drew and etched the Boar's Head tablet, for
Pennant's Some Accownt of London, in 1790, the house had ceased several years
before to be a temple of Bacchus.
The Boar's Head tavern, a large house, was subsequently divided into two
tenements, and constituted numbers 2 and 3, Great Eastcheap. The freehold was
early in June, 1831, purchased by the Corporation, for the London Bridge
improvements, for 25631. 15s., and a further disbursement for unexpired lease
and other claims, of 980Z. 5s., amounting in all to 3544Z. The house was
immediately demolished. The stone sign of the Boar's Head, set up in 1668, and
now in the museum attached to the Corporation library, Guildhall, immediately
faced the house now number 65, King William street, a few feet westward of the
statue of King William the Fourth, placed there in December 1844.
The large brass Boar's Head token is of considerable rarity, and in the previous
edition of this volume is noticed at page 66, as being in the valuable and
choice cabinet of Mr. John Huxtable, Albion road, Stoke Newington. At the
suggestion of the writer, that specimen, with four or five other tokens, were
liberally forwarded by him for this cabinet.
B1257. Obverse. Will . Curtis . at . the = A ship in full sail.
R. IN . GREAT . EASTCHIP = HIS HALFE PENEY.
B1258. Obverse. AT . THE . HARTS . HORNES = H . N.
R. in . great . eastcheapp = A pair of antlers. 1/4
B1260. Obverse. WILLIAM . TEW . AT . THE . IN = A Unicorn.
R. GREAT . EASTCHIP . MEALMAN = W . B . T. 1/2
LITTLE EASTCHEAP.
#423 AT THE RED LYON A lion rampant, in the field.
Rev. LITTLE EASTCHEAP In the field, I. S. V. 1/4
B1728. Obverse. John . Beale . 1664 = A crown.
R. IN . LITTLE . EAST . CHEP = I . A . B. 1/4
B1729. Obverse. EMANVELL . GREEN . AT . YE . KINGS = HIS HALFE PENY. E . P . G.
R. HEAD . IN . LITTLE . EASTSHIP = A full-faced bust of Charles II. crowned.
B1730. Obverse. SAMUELL . HALLVM = A CROWN.
R. IN . LITTLE . EAST . CHEAP = S . A . H. 1/4
B1731. Obverse. AT . THE . GLOBE . IN = A globe.
R. LITTLE . EAST . CHEAPE = I . A . R. 1/4
B1732. Obverse. John . Rolston . at . ye = The Prince of Wales’s crest.
R. LITTLE . EASTCHEAP = I . A . R. 1/4
B1733. Obverse. rich . sessions . at . [the . AN]KER = An anchor.
R. IN . LIT . TLE . ESTCHEP . 1669 = HIS HALFE PENY. R . S . A.
EAST SMITHFIELD.
#424 THE BULLS HEAD TAVERNE A bull's head, in the field.
Rev. IN ESTE SMITHFIELD In the field, I. A.W.
#425 WILLIAM SMITH IN A swan, with collar and chain.
Rev. EAST SMITHFIELD In the field, W. E. S.
#426 AT THE STAR TAVERN Star of six points, in the field.
Rev. IN EAST SMITHFIELD In the field, C. A. H.
#427 THE TALLO CHANLER Man dipping candles, in the field.
Rev. IN EST SMITHFIEELD In the field, W. A. T.
#428 AT THE 3 SVGAR LOVES Three sugar-loaves braced.
Rev. IN EAST SMITHFIELD In the field, R. A. C.
#429 ELIZABETH TICHBURN Man dipping candles, in the field.
Rev. IN EAST SMITHFIELD In the field, E. T.
#430 JEFERY LANGHAM MELE MAN, in the field.
Rev. IN EAST SMITH FIELD In the field, I. A. L.
#431 I. HUTTON : G. IERRARD Stick of candles within crescent.
Rev. IN EAST SMITHFIELD In the field, a wheatsheaf.
An instance of the practice, where two persons in different trades were jointly
concerned in the issue of a farthing. Hutton appears to have been a chandler, or
candle-maker, at the sign of the Half-moon ; Jerrard, a baker.
#432 THOMAS ROBERTS A stick of candles within crescent.
Rev. IN EAST SMITHFIELD Tallow-chandlers' arms.
#433 WALTER WILLFORD IN In the field, HIS HALFE PENY.
Rev. EAST SMITHFIELD. 1666 Tallow-chandlers' arms.
The Tallow-chandlers company obtained the grant of their arms, with the crest,
in 1463.
#434 AT THE TWO DRAMEN Brewers, bearing a slung barrel.
Rev. IN EAST SMITHFIELD In the field, W. E. A.
#435 NATHANIELL BURBIDGE HIS HALFE PENY. 1666.
Rev. IN EAST SMITHFIELD In the field, a bale of wool.
The bale of wool is the heraldic charge on the arms of the company of Woolmen.
Elephant Stairs, see ROTHERHITHE, No. 956.
“Stoln or strayed on the 5 Instant, two Geldings. . . . Whoever shall give
notice of them to the Woolsack in Smithfield \ shall be rewarded.”—The
Intelligencer, , No. 53, July 10, 1665, p. 555.
B901 . Obverse. AT . THE . 2 . DRA . MEN = Twomen carrying a barrel
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = W . E . A . 1/4
B902 . Obverse. HUMPHREY . ALVEY . AT = The Coopers Arms
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = H . M . A . 1/4
B903 . Obverse. Edw : Avery . in . swan . ally = A sword and buckler.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = HIS HALF PENY.
B904 . Obverse. Petter . Bennt . at . YE = An angel.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = P . E . B . 1/4
B905 . Obverse. Richard . berry . in = A child’s cradle.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = R . E . B . 1/4
B906 . Obverse. Richard . Brogstock = Seven Stars
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = R . G . B . 1/4
B909 . Obverse. ANDREAS . CASSTART . at . ye — A castle and three keys.
R . IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD. 70 = HIS HALF PENY.
B910 . Obverse. Edward . Chapman = The Brewers’ Arms.
R . IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = E . M . C. 1/4
B911 . Obverse. LAWRANCE . CHILD . AT = A shepherd and his dog
R . IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = L . E . C. 1/4
B912 . Obverse. RICHARD . CHILD . AT . YE . ROSE = A Tudor rose
R . IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD . 1669 = His half peny
B913 . Obverse. O . COPPING. I . NORTH . IN = A crescent moon and sugar loaf.
R . IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD . 1649 = The tallowchandlers Arms 1/4
It is but rarely that a token is found bearing the names of two issuers. For
other examples, vide Appendix.
B914 . Obverse. Tho : Creaven . in . PARRET = The sun in splendour.
R. ALLY . EAST . SMITHFEILD = T . M . C. 1/4
B915 . Obverse. THE . BULL . HEAD . TAVERNE = A bull’s head.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFIELD = R . D. 1/4
B916 . Obverse. JOHN . DENNETT . IN = HIS HALF PENY.
R. EAST . SMITHFEILD = A bell.
B917 . Obverse. JOHN . DUNTON = HIS HALF PENY.
R. in . east . smithfeild *= A pair of shears crowned.
B918 . Obverse. John . Dvnton = A pair of shears and a crown.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = I . A . D. 1/4
B919 . Obverse. at . the . old . princ = A prince’s head.
R. IN . EST . SMITHFEILD = A . M . E.
B920 . Obverse. at . the . suger . lofe = A sugar-loaf between two cloves.
R. IN . EAST . SMITH . FEILD = H . S . G. 1/4
B921 . Obverse. AT . THE . WHITE . HORSE = A horse.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = T . A . G. 1/4
B922 . Obverse. NEXT . TO . THE . RED . LION = W . K . G.
R. B . H . IN . EST . SMITHFILD = W . K . G. 1/4
B924 . Obverse. AT . YE . GOVLDEN . DRUM = H . F . H.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = A drum. 1/4
B925 . Obverse. at . the . bird . in . hand = A hand holding a bird.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = M . E . H. 1/4
B926 . Obverse. at . the . black . bare = A bear with a chain.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = R . E . H. 1/4
B927 . Obverse. HUGH . HERNE . IN = HIS HALF PENY.
R. EAST . SMITHFFEILD = A Woolpack (?).
B928 . Obverse. GEORGE . HICKES . IN = A Swan.
R. EAST . SMITHFEILD = G . R . H.
B930 . Obverse. John . Jellus . in - Seven stars.
R. EAST . SMITHFILD = I . G . I. 1/4
B931. A variety reads on the reverse E . Smithfi[eld] = I . G . I .
B932 . Obverse. JOHN . LANE . AT . THE = A Sun.
R. IN . EASTSMITHFEILD = I . I . L. 1/4
B934 . Obverse. Peter . Laurence (in three lines across the field).
R. IN . EASTSMITHFEILD = A key. 1/4
B935 . Obverse. Edw . Leader . in = A heart.
R. EAST . SMITHFIELD = E . M . L. 1/4
B936 . Obverse. at . the . yarne . shopp = A pair of scales.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFIELD = R . E . M. 1/4
B937 . Obverse. at . the . horse . shooe = A horseshoe.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = S . P . M. 1/4
B938 . Obverse. NEXT . DOR . TO . THE . RED . CROS = W . R . M.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = W . R . M. 1/4
B939 . Obverse. Elen . Norrice . at . ye . cow . & = A cow and calf.
R. CALF . IN . EAST. SMITHFEILD = HER HALF PENY. 1669.
B940 . Obverse. the . new . queenes . head = Bust of a queen.
R. IN . EST . SMITHFIELD = G . A . P. 1/4
B941 . Obverse. next . the . maremaide = A mermaid.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD . 59 = 1 . M . P. 1/4
B942 . Obverse. AT . THE . WHIT . CROOS = A CROSS.
R. IN . EASTSMITHFEILD = R . E . P. 1/4
B943 . Obverse. dixy . page . at . ye . anchor . and = An anchor, and a sailor
taking an observation.
R. MARRIN . IN . EAST . SMITHFIELD = HIS HALFE PENY. 1667.
B944 . Obverse. John . Rede . 1658 . in = Two brewers carrying a cask.
R. EAST . SMITHFEILD = I . K . R. 1/4
B946 . Obverse. Salathiell . Rolfe . at . ye = A shepherd and a dog.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = HIS HALF PENY.
B948 . Obverse. HENRY . STILLEMAN = HIS HALF PENY.
R. in . East . Smithfeild = A swan on a coronet.
B949 . Obverse. at . the . old . prins = Bust of Prince Maurice (?).
R. IN . EST . SMITH . FEILD = R . M . T. 1/4
B951 . Obverse. RICHARD . THOMAS = HIS HALF PENY.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = BROKER. 1/2
B953 . Obverse. Ye . bull . head . taverne = A bull’s head couped.
R. IN . EAST . SMITHFEILD = H . M . V. 1/4
B954 . Obverse. the . bull . head . taverne = A bull’s head couped.
R. IN . ESTE . SMITH . FEILD = I . A . W. 1/4
B955 . Obverse. AT . THE . LYNN . TOWNE = (Much worn).
R. IN . EST . SMITHFEILDE = I . E . W. 1/4
B956 . Obverse. John . Willcimot . in . = A Maltese cross.
R. EAST . SMITHFEILD = I . M . W. 1/4
EXCHANGE vulgo 'CHANGE ALLEY.
Also see Threadneedle street, where there may
also be some replication
#436 The Coffee House in Exchang Alley, in four lines.
Rev. Morat Head of the sultan Morat, or Amurath.
The Coffee House in Exchang Alley, in four lines - Reverse Morat and a Head of the sultan Morat, or Amurath
The Kingdom's Intelligencer, a weekly paper, published by authority, in 1662, intimates this to be a " new coffee-house," and its distinguishing sign, " THE GREAT TURK." The advertisement states as follows :" At the coffee-house in Exchange alley is sold by retail the right Coffee-powder, from four shillings to six shillings and eight pence per pound, as in goodness ; that
pounded in a mortar, at two shillings per pound ; also that termed the East India berry, at eighteen pence per pound ; and that termed the right Turkic berry, well garbled, at three shillings per pound. The ungarbled for lesse, with directions gratis how to make and use the same. There, likewise, you may have Chocolate, the ordinary pound boxes, at two shillings and sixpence per pound ; the pel-fumed, from four shillings to ten shillings per pound ; also Sherbets, made in Turkic, of lemons, roses, and violets perfumed ; and Tea or Chaa, according to its goodness.
For all which, if any gentleman shall write or send, they shall be sure of the best, as they shall order ; and to avoid deceit, warranted under the house seal ; viz. MOEAT THE GREAT. Further, all gentlemen that are customers and acquaintance are (the next new-year's day) invited at the signe of the Great Turk, at the new coffee-house in Exchange alley, where coffee will be on free cost."
The sign in other advertisements is described as that of " MORAT THE GREAT." Morat figures as a tyrant in Dryden's Aurengzebe.
#437 MORAT YE GREAT MEN DID MEE CALL Sultan's head.
Rev. WHERE EARE I CAME I CONQVER'D ALL In the field, Coffee, Tobacco, Sherbet, Tea, Chocolat, Retail in Exchange Alee.
A commendation of " chocolate, an Indian drinke, by the wise and moderate use whereof health was preserved," by a Spanish writer named Colminero, was translated by Captain J. Wadsworth, and printed in 1652, in small octavo.
The word Tea occurs on no other tokens than those issued from " the GREAT TURK" coffee-house in Exchange alley. An advertisement in the Mercurius Publicus, March 19th, 1662-3, notified " Coffees, Sherbets made in Turkie, of lemons, roses, and violets perfumed; Tea, according to its goodness, from six to sixty shillings a pound, for sale at the coffee-house in Exchange alley, the sign MORAT THE GREAT." These advertisements appear to have led to a successful traffic; as, in the Intelligencer, of Monday, January 23d, 16645, it is intimated that
" One Constantine, a Grecian, living in Thredneedle street, over against St. Christopher's church, London, being licensed to sell and retail coffee, chocolate,
cherbut, and tea, desires it to be certified that the right Turkey coffee bery, or chocolate, may be had as cheap and as good of him the said Constantine, at the place aforesaid, as is any where to be liad for money ; and that people may there be taught to prepare the said liquors gratis."
Pepys, with whom novelty was an exciting attraction, mentions in his Diary, September 25th, 1660, his sending for " a cup of Tee, a China drink," he had not before tasted. Jonas Hanway and other writers notice tea as having been first introduced at court by Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, in or about 1666, where it was adopted with considerable favour. Sir Charles Sedley, in his comedy entitled The Mulberry Garden, produced in 1668, in reference to the prevailing mode, says " he who wished to be considered a man of fashion always drank wine and water at dinner, and a dish of tea afterwards."
The dies of this token are of very unusual excellence, possibly the work of John Roettier. Of the two following types, all the known specimens are casts in brass.
#438 MORAT YE GREAT MEN DID MEE CALL Face, to left.
Rev. WHERE BARE I CAME I CONQVER^D ALL In the field, Coffee, Tobacco, Sherbet, Tea and Chocolat, Retard in Exchange Ally.
#439 MORAT YE GREAT MEN DID MEE CALL Face, to left.
Rev. WHERE EARE I came I CONQVER'D all In the field, Coffee Chocolat Tea Sherbett & Tobac sould in Exchamg Alley.
A crescent, by way of mint-mark, appears on the reverse of these three types.
#440 AVRTHUR STANLEY In the field, HIS HALFE PENNY.
Rev. IN EXCHAINGE ALLEY. 1666 Exchange portal.
The reverse of this token shows, through two arches, the north side of the interior quadrangle of Gresham's bourse, more clearly defined in Hollar's engraved view, of 1647. That Stanley's token has immediate reference to that building, and was issued anterior to the fire, is clear from the fact that the Royal Exchange being destroyed in September 1666, the foundation for the new edifice was not laid till May 6th, 1667, or opened for the reception of the merchants and traders, till September 28th, 1669, during the mayoralty of Sir William Turner. The second building was destroyed by fire in the night of January 10th, 1838, when, as the fire approached the clock and its musical chimes, early in the morning of January llth, the last expiring tune was " There's nae luck about the house;" singularly appropriate under that dreadful visitation.
'Change alley, before September 1666, was but a narrow passage; and, in the disposition of the new sites, had still a confined space, till Alderman Backwell's house in Lombard street was demolished for the enlargement of the thoroughfare.
#441 UNION IN CORNHILL In small compartment, the figure 3.
Rev. Blank.
STRUCK ON LEATHER, one inch and three eighths in diameter.
The Union, established in Exchange alley, although designated "on Cornhill," was a coffee-house in high vogue with the mercantile world, and frequently a place of meeting for their discussing matters of general import. See advertisements in the Tatler, August 2d, 1709, and elsewhere.
On March 25th, 1748, the Union coffee-house, with eighty other buildings, including many coffee-houses and taverns of considerable celebrity, were wholly destroyed by fire. The plan inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine for April in that year denotes the site.
" A LEATHER THREE-PENCE, Union in Cornhill," occurs in the sale catalogue of the coins and other articles of vertu, the property of Peter Birkhead, goldsmith and antiquary, deceased, sold in January 1743, at his house, the Queen's Head, in Grafton street, Soho ; but no other has been discovered in any sale catalogue.
#
B958 . Obverse. Tho . Browning . behind = Crowned bust of Henry VIII.
R. THE . EXCHANGE = T . S . B.
“ Lost or absented a little Negro Boy of about 13 years of age in a grey Livery
with a black and pink Lace, and a small Cross in his forehead ; he speaks
Spanish
and English indifferently well, and has been seen much to frequent Fleet Street
and the Strand; He that shall bring him or notice of him ... to Mr. Browning, at the King's head, behind the Old Exchange shall be well rewarded for his
peins.”—The Newes, No. 96, December 8, 1664, p. 786.
B959 . Obverse. AT . THE . SUNN . TAVERN = The Sun.
R. BEHINDE . THE . EXCANGE = N . A . C.
This tavern was used as headquarters by Freemasons in the reign of Queen Anne.
“ After that, to the Sun behind the Exchange, where, meeting my uncle Wright
by the way, took him thither.”—Pepys’ Diary, March 7, 1659-60.
“ I to the Sun behind the ’Change, to dinner to my Lord Bellasses.”— lb.,
February 4, 1664-5.
“ Strayed on the 16th of Octob. past, from Esham in Surrey, a light gray Gelding, about 14 hand high, and all his paces : Whoever shall give notice of him to
. . . the Sun Tavern , behind the Royall Exchange London shall be well rewarded
for his peyns. ”—The Intelligencer, No. 87, November 7, 1664, p. 715.
B960 . Obverse. THOMAS . CORDEN . AT . YE . GRASHOPPER = A grasshopper.
R. BEHIND . Y E . ROYALL . EXCHAINGE = T . A . C.
“ One Daniel Gurling , of Brundish, in Suffolk, . . . being at the Exchange
last week, was taken up by two Kid-nappers, who by easie persuasions went with
them to the Grass-hopper behind the Change, where they agreed with him to goe
for New England.”—The Alan in the Moon, No. 2, 1663, p. 11.
B961 . Obverse. at . the . halfe . moon = A crescent moon.
R. BEHIND . THE . CHANGE = T . I . H.
B963 . Obverse. the . Antwerp . tavern = View of Antwerp, with ships.
R. BEHIND . THE . EXCHANG = P . A . T.
There was a Freemason’s lodge here in the time of Queen Anne.
B964 . Obverse. at . the . Ship . tavern = A ship in full sail.
R. BEHIND . THE . EXCHANGE = C . W . Y.
“ All Gentleman Planters, and others, who desire to Transplant themselves to the
Barbados , may speak with the Governour thereof upon the Exchange in Barbados
walk, betwixt Twelve and One; and from One till Three at the Ship-Tavern ,
behind the Exchange . . . where they shall be treated with Civility, and
Reason.”
—The Intelligencer , No. 29, April 11, 1664, p. 236; and the Newes, No. 30,
April 14, 1664, p. 245.
“ Lost or left in a Coach ... a Green Bag with Bonds and other Writings in
it : If any one can give notice of the same ... to Mr. Ewster at the Ship over
against the Old Exchange , he shall have a good reward.”—The Intelligencer, No.
101, December 26, 1664, p. 825.
B969 . Obverse. at . the . globe . coffee . house = A globe on a stand.
R. ON . THE . BACK . SIDE . OF . THE = ROYALL . EXCHENG.
“ There is a Parcel of Coffee-Berry to be put to publique sale upon Wednesday,
the 23. Instant, a 6. a clock in the Evening at the Globe Coffee-house at the
end
of St. Bartholomew-Lane, over against the North Gate of the RoyalrExchange. . .
.
And if any desire to be further informed, they may repair to Mr. Brigg, Publique
Notary at the said Globe Coffee-house.”—The Intelligencer , December 21, 1663,
No. 17, p. 134.
“No Ships having the benefit of the present Peace with Algiers, but such as
1 carry with them a Pass from his Royal Highness the Duke of York. These give
notice that the said Passes may be had at the Office of Mr. Brigge at the Globe,
over against the North Entrance of the Royal Exchange .”—The Newes, No. 100,
December 22, 1664, p. 816.
EXECUTION DOCK, Wapping.
#442 HENRY FORMAN AT EXECVTION H. F. in a monogram.
Rev. DOCKE BREWHOVSE . 1668 In the field, HIS HALFE PENNY.
As ever I am appreciative of the archive.org site and google books for
showing old and non-copyright scripts which can be used for research (copied).