This sign was frequently adopted by innkeepers and other tenants of religious houses, even after the Reformation; for the Cross Keys figure in the arms of the Bishops of York, Cashel, Exeter, Gloster, and Peterborough. At the Cross Keys in Gracechurch Street, where Tarlton, the comic actor, went to see fashions, Banks used to perform with his wonderful bay horse before a crowded house. This was in the days of Queen Elizabeth, when the inn consisted of a large court with galleries all round, which, like many other old London inns, was often used as an extempore theatre by our ancestors. It is named in 1681[161] amongst the carriers’ inns, and is in existence at the present day. The Cross Keys was the sign of a tavern near Thavies Inn in 1712:-- “May the Cross Keys near Thavies Inn succeed, And famous grow for choicest white and red; That all may know, who view that costly sign, Those golden keys command celestial wine.” _The Quack Vintners. A Satire._ 1712. Besides, it is famous as the sign of Bernard Lintot, 1736, the publisher of Gay’s works, and many other popular books of that day. His shop was situated between the Temple Gates, in Fleet Street. The CROSS KEYS AND BIBLE was the sign of J. Bell, in Cornhill, 1711. Most numerous among heraldic signs were the crests, arms, and badges[162] of private families. The causes which dictated the choice of such subjects were various. One of the earliest was this:-- “In towns the hospitality of the burghers was not always given gratis, for it was a common custom even amongst the richer merchants to make a profit by receiving guests. These letters of lodgings were distinguished from the innkeepers or _hostelers_ by the name of _herbergeors_, or people who gave harbour to strangers, and in large towns they were submitted to municipal regulations. The great barons and knights were in the custom of taking up their lodgings with those herbergeors rather than going to the public hostel, and thus a sort of relationship was formed between particular nobles or kings and particular burghers, on the strength of which the latter _adopted the arms of their habitual lodgers as their sign_.”[164]