seventeenth century is clear from what Pepys says in his _Diary_. He tells us that on the night of October 7, 1667, he “lay very well” at the “Rayne-deere at Bishop Stafford” (meaning Bishops Stortford), where the sign is still in existence. The same sign also occurs at Takeley, Black Notley, and (as already mentioned) Buckhurst Hill, having been probably set up at the latter place in order to keep company with the other kinds of deer that are found there. The REINDEER at Takeley has been in existence since 1786 at least, as it is mentioned in the _Chelmsford Chronicle_ on January 20th in that year. At Greenstead, near Colchester, there is to be seen the sign of the BUCK’S HORNS, which is very likely intended to represent the deer’s “_attires_” in somebody’s coat of arms. The sign is not mentioned by Larwood and Hotten. The HORNS at Barking Side may have had the same origin, or the house may have taken its sign from the noted tavern of the same name which formerly existed in Fleet Street. The residence at Newport, now commonly known as the Crown House (from the crown sculptured over the door), or Nell Gwynne’s House, used formerly to be an inn. Its present names have been given to it within living memory. Mr. C. K. Probert states[49] that in the time of his father, eighty or ninety years ago, there was a tradition still lingering in the town that the inn was formerly known as the HORNS, and that Charles II., The Duke of York, and Nell Gwynne used to stop there on their way from London to Newmarket races. This circumstance is alluded to in an old folio history of the Rye House Plot, and Mr. Probert has seen a play, printed about seventy years ago, in which the scene was laid at the HORNS at Newport, the characters being Charles II., Nell Gwynne, the Duke of York, &c. Mr. Probert writes: “Tradition says they used to come with packhorses by the Great North Road, _viâ_ Rickling and the lane near Wicken Bonhunt, still called ‘London Lane;’ then along the ancient road at the foot of Bury Field in Newport; then along the back of the Burywater House, and so emerging opposite the Crown House.”