_Grinning like a Cheshire Cat_ (Vol. ii., pp. 377, 412.).--In one of
your early Numbers I have seen some Queries respecting the phrase
"Grinning like a Cheshire Cat." I remember to have heard many years ago,
that it owes its origin to the unhappy attempts of a sign painter of
that county to represent a lion rampant, which was the crest of an
influential family, on the sign-boards of many of the inns. The
resemblance of these _lions_ to _cats_ caused them to be generally
called by the more ignoble name. A similar case is to be found in the
village of Charlton, between Pewsey and Devizes, Wiltshire. A
public-house by the roadside is commonly known by the name of _The Cat
at Charlton_. The sign of the house was originally a lion or tiger, or
some such animal, the crest of the family of, I believe, Sir Edward
Poore.