 |
Red-lattice Phrases
Pot-house talk. Red-lattice at the doors and windows was
formerly the sign that an alehouse was duly licensed; hence our chequers. In some cases “lattice” has been converted into lettuce, and the colour of the alternate checks changed to
green: such a sign used to be in Brownlow Street, Holborn.
Sometimes, without doubt, the sign had another meaning, and announced
that “tables” were played within; hence Gayton, in his Notes on Don
Quixote (p. 340), in speaking of our public-house signs, refers to
our notices of “billiards, kettle-noddy-boards, tables, truncks,
shovel-boards, fox-and-geese, and the like.” It is quite certain
that shops with the sign of the chequers were not uncommon among the
Romans. (See a view of the left-hand street of Pompeii,
presented by Sir William Hamilton to the Society of Antiquaries.) (See Lattice.)
“I, I, I myself sometimes, leaving the fear of heaven on the left
hand, ... am fain to shuffle, to hedge and to lurch; and yet you,
rogue, will ensconce your rags ... your red-lattice phrases ... under
the shelter of your honour.” —Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor,
ii. 2.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Red-lattice Phrases from Infoplease:
|
|
