More on Goat and Compasses from Infoplease:

• Goat and Compasses - Goat and Compasses A public-house sign in the Commonwealth; a corruption of “God en-compasses ...
• Beefeaters - Beefeaters Yeomen of the Guard in the royal household, appointed, in 1485, by Henry VII., to form ...
• Public-house Signs - Public-house Signs Much of a nation's history, and more of its manners and feelings, may be ...
• Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: G - Definitions, origins, and illustrative excerpts for words, phases, and literary allusions starting with "G"