* * * * * It was from the Rose and Crown, where Mr. Eve Doth keep a house like to an Under Sheriff; There is good Sack, good French wine and good Beer. * * * * * There, at my parting, some kind friends of mine, Would needs bestow on me a quart of wine, Where, with stout drinking, ere my parting hour, That quart was made at least a three or four. Yet would my jovial friends on me attend, Part of my journey unto Audley End.” The Mr. Eve mentioned herein is undoubtedly the same landlord mentioned in the Saffron Walden _Mayor’s Book_ in 1680, when the Corporation “Pd. Mr. Eves for wine at [Illustration: ROSE INN AT PELDON (_after the earthquake_).] the Dinner, &c., when the King came to Audley End, when we delivered the Address--£5 2s. 0d.” The ROSE at Peldon appears to be at least a century old, as it is mentioned in the _Chelmsford Chronicle_ on May 5, 1786. The inn plays a rather conspicuous part in the Rev. Baring-Gould’s _Mehalah_, wherein (ii. p. 58) it is described as “an old-fashioned house with a vine scrambling over the red tile roof, and an ancient standard sign on the green before the door, bearing a rose painted the size of a gigantic turnip.” Few houses suffered more severely from the earthquake of April 22, 1884, than this. An illustration of its appearance immediately after that event is here given. Mr. King finds mention in ancient deeds of a ROSE AND CROWN--either inn, shop, or tenement--at Rochford in 1693. In the Stock parish registers it is recorded that on August 23, 1676, “Richard Barnes, a citizen of London, dwelling (as he sayd) in the Minories, taken sick in travell, dyed in y^{e} highway neare y^{e} house called y^{e} Rose, and was burried at y^{e} p’ishes charge.” Presumably this ROSE was not an inn. A ROSE appears on the token, dated 1670, of Thomas Guyon of Coggeshall, but no house with that sign now exists there. The ROSE AND CROWN at Rochford is referred to in the _Chelmsford Chronicle_ on April 14, 1786. The sign of the _Rose of Denmark_ occurs at Canning Town. Its origin is not obvious. Larwood and Hotten do not refer to the sign. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER VII. _HUMAN SIGNS._ ... “And make my image but an ale-house sign.” SHAKESPEARE: HENRY V., Part II., Act iii., Scene 2.