The _Three Kings_ was anciently the sign of the mercers, because in the Middle Ages linen thread materials brought from Cologne had the highest reputation, and were probably stamped either with the figures of the three wise men, or with three crowns. But the _Three Crowns_ are asserted to be more commonly emblematic of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. The _Golden Ball_ was another mercers’ sign, from the arms of Constantinople, which was formerly the centre of the silk trade. The _Elephant and Castle_ was the crest of the Cutlers’ Company. However, the _Elephant and Castle_, at the corner of Newington Causeway, has a quite different origin. The skeleton of an elephant was discovered while digging a gravel-pit near this spot in 1714. Elephants in mediæval heraldry were invariably represented as carrying a solidly-built castle, a traveller’s exaggeration of the Indian palanquin. The _Lion and Castle_ indicated a dealer in Spanish wines, because sherry casks were stamped with the brand of the Spanish arms. Foresters resorted for company to the _Green Man_, and the survival of many old taverns of that name reminds us that there were numerous forests in the neighbourhood of London. The Northwood, or Norwood, extended from near the _Green Man_ at Dulwich to Croydon, where there is another _Green Man Inn_. The _Green Man_ at Leytonstone stands on the verge of Epping Forest. Wherever a painted sign exists on one of these houses it generally represents either an archer or a forester clad in Lincoln green. The _Two Brewers_ does not denote that the ale of the two rival tradesmen is on sale, but the manner in which beer was anciently carried about before the invention of brewers’ drays. Two porters are shown bearing the precious barrel slung between them on a pole. Last of all to be mentioned among the inns which remind us of disappearing occupations are those found usually where the ancient green ways join the main roads to London. The drover and his herd of tired wild-eyed cattle is no longer a feature on the roadside. It is cheaper and more convenient to send oxen to market by cattle-train. But the long green lanes, touching here and there a market town, extend through the Eastern and Midland counties, right up to the North of England. Lonely and deserted, practicable only by the pedestrian or the rider of a sure-footed pony, scarcely ever used except by the county officials, whose duty it is to maintain the right of way, they remain as an ideal hunting ground for the naturalist. When the explorer, tired and hungry after many miles of rough journeying, finds shelter at the _Drover’s Call_, _Butcher’s Arms_, or _Jolly Drovers_, the purpose of these old half-forgotten by-roads is made clear to him, and he can meditate during his hour of rest on the changes which fifty years have made in the methods of transport. CHAPTER VI CHURCH INNS AND CHURCH ALES