sign-boards were a necessity. And when it is remembered that it was only so lately as the beginning of the present century that the knowledge of reading and writing became sufficiently widespread to allow the numbering of houses to come into general use as a means of distinguishing one house from another, it will be easily seen that the sign-boards of (say) two centuries ago played a very important, and even an essential, part in the commercial world of those days. But a study of the various devices that appear even on modern sign-boards will teach us still more of the doings of our ancestors. They tell us of the wares our forefathers made and dealt in, of the superstitious beliefs they held, of the party strifes in which they engaged, and of the great titled families which had so large a share in the making of English history--in short, the devices seen, even on modern sign-boards, afford, to those who can and care to read them, no mean picture both of mediæval and more modern times. It was well remarked in an early number of the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ (1738, vol. viii. p. 526), that “The People of England are a nation of Politicians, from the First Minister down to the cobbler, and peculiarly remarkable for hanging out their principles upon their sign-posts.” Some of our modern Essex signs, for instance, are relics (as will be more clearly pointed out hereafter) of what were once staple industries in the county, though now all but unknown in it. Thus the signs of the WOOLPACK (p. 79), the SHEARS (p. 41), and the GOLDEN FLEECE (p. 78) are all mementoes of the time when the woollen trade flourished in Essex. The sign of the HOP-POLES (p. 111) reminds us of the time when hop-growing formed a considerable industry in the county. Our various BLUE BOARS (p. 68) speak to us of the noble and once mighty Essex family of De Vere, which formerly wielded a great power in England. These are but a few instances. Others will occur to every one who peruses the following pages. At the present day, too, there is scarcely a village in the county that has not some street, square, or lane named after an inn-sign, as, for instance, Sun Street, Eagle Lane, Swan Street, Falcon Square, Lion Walk, Greyhound Lane, &c. In London, or Paris, the connection is still closer. Surely, then, although signs are no longer of great or urgent importance to us in the daily routine of our ordinary business life, an inquiry into their past history will be a matter of much interest, especially as comparatively little has hitherto been written about them.