CHAPTER IV.
ORNITHOLOGICAL SIGNS.
RNITHOLOGICAL signs stand next in turn for notice. They are fairly numerous, and many are of strictly heraldic derivation.
The Eagle appears in one form or another on nineteen Essex sign-boards. On seven occasions a simple Eagle is intended. Twenty years ago, however, there were but three. Ten times the sign of the Spread Eagle occurs, and the same device is depicted on the tokens issued by John Millbank of Colchester in 1665, and by Samuel Wall of Witham in 1668. The Spread Eagle at Harwich, which is a house still extant, is referred to in the issue of the Chelmsford Chronicle for March 31, 1786. At Little Bardfield a carved and gilded Spread Eagle is set up on the top of a post before the inn. The sign is truly heraldic, inasmuch as the bird does not seem to require to use its legs, but stands upon its tail. In the Chelmsford Chronicle for March 2, 1787, there appears an advertisement stating that a “Main of Cocks” was to be fought on the 7th of that month at the *Spread Eagle in Prittlewell, between the Gentlemen of that place and the Gentlemen of Great Wakering. Eagles occur so frequently in Heraldry that there can be no doubt whence the sign of the Eagle is derived; and the fact that the bird is, more often than not, described as “spread,” goes far to confirm its heraldic derivation. An eagle was displayed upon the ensign of the Roman emperors, and has since formed one of the chief
cognizances of the sovereigns of Germany, Russia, Prussia, Austria, France, &c. Edward III. bore a crowned eagle as his crest, and Henry IV. adopted a spread eagle as one of his badges. The bird is also of very frequent occurrence in the armorial bearings of private families. The Eagle at Snaresbrook is a well-known old hostelry, and is a very favourite Bank Holiday resort of “ ‘Arry and ‘Arriet” from the East End of London. The Eagle and Child, which is to be seen at Shenfield and Forest Gate, is not uncommon elsewhere, and will be at once recognized as the crest of the Stanleys, Earls of Derby, which represents an eagle carrying off a child, as told in the well-known legend,[70] and as here depicted. In a curious collection of miscellanea relating to signs formed by a Mr. G. Creed, and now preserved in the British Museum, it is stated that in the parlour of the last-named inn there is (or was in 1850) framed “a MS. bit of Doggrell,” commencing as follows:—
The Essex Flats too Knowing for the Yorkshire Sharps.