the sign of one being that of an Indian woman holding a bow and
arrow, and the other, of Queen Anne's time, that of a savage
standing by a bell, and it has been conjectured that this latter
sign may have suggested the name. But as the inn was known as "Ye
Belle Savage" some sixty years previously this is hardly likely.
Another conjecture as to its origin was made by Addison in The
Spectator, who, having read an old French romance which gives an
account of a beautiful woman called in French "La Belle Sauvage"
and translated into English as "Bell Savage," considered the name
was derived from that source. Alderman Sir W. P. Treloar, in his
excellent little book on "Ludgate Hill," puts forth another idea.
"As the inn," he says, "was the mansion of the Savage family, and
near to Bailey or Ballium, it is at least conceivable that it would
come to be known as the Bail or Bailey Savage Inn, and afterward the
Old Bail or Bailey Inn." We prefer, however, to favour the Isabella
Savage theory as the likely one.

Long before Elizabeth's time and long after-wards the inn was a
very famous one. In the days before Shakespeare the actors gave
performances of their plays in the old inn yard, using the
courtyards as the pit in theatres is used to-day, and the upper
and lower galleries for what are now the boxes and galleries of
modern theatres. In 1556, the old inns, such as the "Cross Keys,"
the "Bull" and "Belle Sauvage" were used extensively for this
purpose, the latter, we are told, almost ranking as a permanent
theatre. We find Collier also stating that the "Belle Sauvage"
was a favourite place for these performances.

Originally the old inn consisted of two courts, an inner and outer
one. The present archway from Ludgate Hill led into the latter,