The ostrich does not often occur under that name, but its egg was often made into a cup, under the name of a griffon's egg or 'grype's ey.' Edward III. had more than one 'oef de greffon,' and Henry IV. had half-a-dozen 'gryppesheys,' but possibly by this time the term was only conventional and the true origin of the egg was known, as one of these 'gryppesheys' was mounted on 'two white ostriches.' The griffin, half eagle and half lion, was a very popular mediæval beast; that no specimen is ever recorded to have been taken round on show may have been due to the fact that this beast 'so much disdaineth vassalrey and subjection that he will never be surprised alive.' The appearance amongst the jewels of Richard II. of an almsdish supported by two griffons suggests an analogy with its modern relation the Jubjub, of which it is said that 'In charity meetings it stands at the door, And collects though it does not subscribe.' If doubt is to be thrown on examples of the griffon's eggs, still more dubitable is the 'drinking vessel made of the horn of a griffon, mounted in copper gilt,' which belonged to Edward III. This may well rank with a relic preserved in the Cathedral Priory of Rochester,--'the rod of Moses which budded,'--in view of the fact that it was Aaron's rod which budded and that a griffon has no horns. If our forefathers never had a chance of seeing a griffon and failed to appreciate an ostrich when they did see one, there is no question that they saw and appreciated the first elephant that landed in England. It was a present from King Louis of France to Henry III. and landed at Sandwich in 1255, whence it proceeded leisurely to London, filling all beholders with astonishment. It only lived a couple of years, and when its successor came over I do not know, but I suspect that there was a very long interval before England was again visited by an elephant. Before its lamented decease it sat for its portrait to Matthew Paris and another contemporary chronicler, and the resulting sketches are quite recognisable. The elephant was not a very favourite subject with mediæval artists, though the Earl of Arundel in 1397 had a piece of tapestry (probably oriental) 'powdered with lions, olyfauntes and imagery,' and if any one wants to know what it was like they have only to go to an old house in Market Street at Rye, where they can see just such a piece of tapestry, 'olyfauntes' and all, reproduced as a wall-painting. Talking of elephants, a learned man not many years back wrote an article with the fascinating title, 'How the Elephant became a Bishop'; as a matter of fact it dealt with the evolution of the chess 'bishop,' but what a title for a fairy tale!