ALPHEGE will find a good paper on the origin of signs in the _Mirror_, vol. ii. p. 387.; also an article on the present specimens of country ale-house signs, in the first volume of the same interesting periodical, p. 101. In Hone's _Every-Day Book_, vol. i., are notices of curious signs at pp. 1262. and 1385. In vol. ii. some very amusing specimens are given at p. 789. Others occur in Hone's _Table-Book_, at pp. 448. 504. and 756. F. C. H. I can answer ALPHEGE's Query, having some notes by me on the subject. He will pardon my throwing them, in a shapeless heap, jolting out as you unload stones. The Romans had signs; and at Pompeii a pig over the door represents a wine-shop within. The Middle Ages adopted a bush. "Good wine needs no bush," &c., answering to the gilded grapes at a modern vintner's. The bush is still a common sign. At Charles I.'s death, a cavalier landlord painted his bush black. Then came the modern square sign, formerly common to all trades. Old signs are generally heraldic, and represent royal bearings, or the blazonings of great families. The White Hart was peculiar to Richard II; the White Swan of Henry IV. and Edward III.; the Blue Boar of Richard III.; the Red Dragon came in with the Tudors. Then we have the Bear and Ragged Staff of Leicester, &c. Monograms are common; as Bolt and Tun for _Bolton_; Hare and Tun for _Harrington_. The Three Suns is the favourite bearing of Edward IV.; and all Roses, white or red (as at Tewkesbury), are indications of political predilection. Other signs commemorate historical events; as the Bull and Mouth, Bull and Gate (the Boulogne engagement in Henry VIII.'s time, and alluded to by Shakspeare). The Pilgrim, Cross Keys, Salutation, Catherine Wheel, Angel, Three Kings, Seven Stars, St. Francis, &c., are medieval signs. Many are curiously corrupted; as the Coeur Doré (Golden Heart) to the Queer Door; Bacchanals (the Bag of Nails); Pig and Whistle (Peg and Wassail Bowl); the Swan and Two Necks (literally Two _Nicks_); Goat and Compasses (God encompasseth us); The Bell Savage (La Belle Sauvage, or Isabel Savage); the Goat in the Golden Boots (from the Dutch, Goed in der Gooden Boote), Mercury, or the God in the Golden Boots. The Puritans altered many of the monastic signs; as the Angel and Lady, to the Soldier and Citizen. In signs we may read every phase of ministerial popularity, and all the ebbs and flows of war in the Sir Home Popham, Rodney, Shovel, Duke of York, Wellington's Head, &c. At Chelsea, a sign called the "Snow Shoes," I believe, still indicates the excitement of the American war. I shall be happy to send ALPHEGE more instances, or to answer any conjectures. G. W. THORNBURY.