Visited the Foundling Museum in London, where they had an exhibition called 'Threads of feeling' (1740 to 1770) - the exhibits were of swatches of material, or bonnets, or ribbon. These were left with the abandoned babies so that they could be identified, or in rare cases, reunited with their mother or parents.
Sometimes the mementoes were left with the babies by the (usually) mother, but sometimes they were added by the hospital for their records. The babies were usually renamed on arrival.
If the articles left were ribbons, these were usually tied in a knot, with trailing ribbons, for a girl and gathered into a cockade for a boy.
I found the exhibition deeply moving, particularly one boy called Charles, and renamed Benjamin Twirl (which of course made me think of Oliver Twist), who was left there with half an embroidered heart. His mother kept the other half, and he was one of the lucky ones who was reclaimed some eight years later.
After that I went to a lovely art shop near the British Museum, somewhere to visit another time with a bit of money...I then walked down to Covent Garden to have a look round and a rest, and on my way passed some weird buildings in lego colours.
