In connection with this sign there is an amusing tale, which is worth repeating, told of a sceptical American. When the significance of the sign was explained to him, he remarked that the state of things depicted might possibly come to pass some time, but that, when it did, he “guessed that there Lamb would be inside that there Lion!” Bovine signs are very frequently to be seen upon our Essex sign-boards. The simple sign of the BULL is the commonest device, occurring no less than twenty-two times. Its intimate connection with Christmas beef, heraldry, and bull-baiting is sufficient to account for the frequent appearance of this animal on the sign-board. About seventy years ago the BULL Inn, Whitechapel, was the resort of the Essex farmers, who came to London once a week to dispose of their corn, &c. The landlord, named Johnson, who was formerly “boots” at this inn, being in good credit with his customers, they occasionally left their samples with him, and he acted as a middle man so much to their satisfaction, that he shortly after opened an office upon Bear Quay, styling himself “Factor of the Essex Farmers.” The business ultimately grew to one of great extent. In old deeds Mr. King finds mention of a BULL--either shop, inn, or dwelling-house--at Billericay as early as 1616, also of another house with the same sign at Hockley early in the seventeenth century. Taylor, in his _Catalogue of Tavernes_, mentions a BULL (probably the existing inn of that name) at Barking in 1636, and another at Brook Street, where also there is a still existing Bull. The BLACK BULL appears at Fyfield, Chelmsford, Margaretting, and Old Sampford, while an OLD BLACK BULL occurs at Stratford. Very probably these two signs owe their existence to the fact that a _bull sable_ formed one of the badges, as well as the sinister supporter of the arms, of Edward IV. In 1662 there was a BLACK BULL Inn at Romford, as appears from a mention made of it in the _Account of the Murder of Thomas Kidderminster_, already referred to. In 1789 there were other examples of the BLACK BULL at Loughton and Harlow, and that at Fyfield was then existing. Sixty years ago there was also one at Grays. On the map of the road between London and Harwich, given in Ogilby’s _Itinerarium Angliæ_, published in 1675, “Ye BULL INN”--evidently a house of some importance--is shown about midway between Ingatestone and Widford. In the _Traveller’s Guide_, a smaller edition of the same work, published in 1699, the same house figures as the BLACK BULL Inn. Probably this is the still existing BLACK BULL at Margaretting. The BULL AND CROWN, which has been in existence at Chingford for at least forty years past, may be simply an impaled sign, or it may (like the last sign spoken of) be derived from the black bull of Edward IV., or from the white bull used as a supporter by Henry VIII. In either case the bull would probably be crowned. This device is not