The Dragon and the Grasshopper

The vane on Bow Church in Cheapside is a gilt copper dragon, and the Royal Exchange carries the grasshopper crest of Sir Thomas Gresham. One of Mother Shipton’s prophecies said that when the two met, London would be drowned in blood. In 1820 both vanes were taken down and lay together in a stonemason’s yard in Old Street Road, and Chambers notes with relief that nothing came of it. He also dismisses the City tale that Gresham took the grasshopper as his badge because one saved his life when he was a starving foundling.