388 [Proc. B.N.F.C, 



renowned by Chaucer as the rendezvous of the Canterbury 

 Pilgrims 500 years ago; "The Mermaid," frequented by 

 Raleigh, Shakspere, and the great wits of the time, well known 

 from a quotation from a letter of Beaumont to Ben Jonson, be- 

 ginning : — "What things have we seen done at the Mermayde." 

 It was no uncommon thing for publicans and others to adopt 

 the heads of popular heroes — a class of subject, however, par- 

 ticularly liable to transmutation by the accession of some later 

 favourite, as the "Duke's Head," which in the time of Blenheim 

 implied the hero Marlborough, was changed to his Royal High- 

 ness the Duke of York, or his Grace of Wellington. The heads 

 of Homer, Horace, Cicero, Milton, Shakspere, &c, were also 

 taken by booksellers. The heads of yEsculapius, his " serpent 

 and staff," or his " cock " were appropriate for professors of the 

 healing art ; these, as well as the head of Galen, or the phoenix 

 rising from the flames, are still found decorating our modern 

 druggists. Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal 

 Exchange, in 1560, was appointed ambassador at the Court of 

 the Duke of Parma, Regent of the Netherlands, and received 

 thereon from Elizabeth the honour of knighthood, which was a 

 real honour in those days. Notwithstanding this promotion, he 

 continued business as a merchant, and kept his shop open in 

 Lombard Street, with a great grasshopper — his family crest — 

 over his door as a sign. 



I may just call your attention for a moment to a modern 

 instance, a lingering relic, of this good old custom near our own 

 doors. As you pass up and down High Street you cannot fail 

 to perceive a great golden canister over the door of an eminent 

 townsman, whose name, like his tea, is a household word in our 

 mouths. It speaks of the days when tea caddies were prevalent, 

 when the precious young Hyson, the cheering Congou, the bold 

 Souchong, and the Mandarin varieties of black and green were 

 supposed to be imprisoned in splendid receptacles of this kind 

 in the shops of the tea merchants. The well-known shape of 

 the canister in this case symbolised the contents. " Assam," 

 " Ceylon," " Sirocco," "Lipton," &c, are the catch words now 

 used to conjure with, instead of the old forms of symbols. 



