The Trust Servant Inn Sign

The Trust Servant Inn Sign
Originally uploaded by Missy2004.

27/113 Framed
The Inn sign has an unusual picture.It is copied from a picture The Trusty Servant, painted by John Hoskins in 1579. It hangs outside the kitchen of Winchester College in Hampshire,
It shows the ideal servant having the attributes of various animals.It is a figure, part man, part pig, part deer, and part donkey; with a padlock on his mouth, and various other symbols in his hands and about his person, the whole signifying a most valuable character.




An allegorical Latin verse hangs with the painting and this is an English Translation.

A trusty servant's picture would you see,
This figure well survey, who'ever you be.
The porker's snout not nice in diet shows;
The padlock shut, no secret he'll disclose;
Patient, to angry lords the ass gives ear;
Swiftness on errand, the stag's feet declare;
Laden his left hand, apt to labour saith;
The coat his neatness; the open hand his faith;
Girt with his sword, his shield upon his arm,
Himself and master he'll protect from harm.