The RED LION at Abberton figures in the Rev. S. Baring-Gould’s _Mehalah_. The RED LION at Springfield is an extremely ferocious one, if one may judge from the appearance of his effigy, which is rudely cut out of a thin sheet of iron, painted red, and placed upon the top of the beer-house to which he serves as a sign. A RED LION at Radwinter (perhaps the existing LION) finds mention in the _Chelmsford Chronicle_ on January 20, 1786. The LION AND BOAR at Earls Colne may represent the lion and boar which sometimes appear as the supporters of the arms of King Richard III., or it may simply be an impaled sign. The sign is not mentioned by Larwood and Hotten. The LION AND KEY at Leyton is a sign of somewhat obscure origin. It is not a modern invention, as there was a house of the same name near Lion’s Quay, London, in 1653. Our house, which is over forty years old, and was formerly a blacksmith’s shop, may have taken its sign from this one, or it may have derived its name independently from the popular version of some family crest. This is rendered extremely likely from the fact (supplied by the present landlord, who, however, is unable to give any further information as to the sign) that among the old property taken with the house is a punch-bowl bearing the heraldic device of a lion rampant, its paw resting upon the ring of an upright key, and dated either 1756 or 1786. Whose this crest is, it is hard to say. The Rev. H. L. Elliot has ascertained that it is not included among those in _The Book of Family Crests_, although the family of Lyngard of Northants bore _a lion sejant guardant sable, in the dexter fore paw a key in pale or_; while the families of Knox, Criall, and Chamberlain had crests with a demi-lion holding a key. The very common sign of the LION AND LAMB is now met with at Braintree, Stratford, Takeley, Chelmsford, and Brentwood, although, twenty years ago, the county only contained three examples. At the last-named place the sign seems to have existed since 1786 at least, as it is mentioned in the _Chelmsford Chronicle_ on March 17th in that year. At *Chelmsford a LION AND LAMB carved in stone repose peacefully upon the parapet of the building, while a newly-painted sign-board, very well designed, depicts them in the same attitude. The fact of the name containing an alliteration has, no doubt, had something to do with its adoption; but it is also an emblematic representation of the Millennium, when (as Larwood and Hotten say) “the lion shall lie down by the kid.” Those gentlemen, however, together with all who use the sign, appear to be a little at fault in their knowledge of Scripture. The passage describing the “Millennium” (Isaiah xi. 6) says nothing about a lion lying down, either with a lamb or a kid. It runs as follows: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together.” The sign first came into use over two centuries ago.