His Eagle and Child

• a permutation of HCE
• The Eagle and Child - a common pub name. One in particular, found in St. Giles, Oxford, is popular because of its reputation as the meeting place for the literary group, the Inklings. The group met between the 1930's and 1960's and membership included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Although, this may have been too soon for it to be relevant at the time that Joyce wrote this.
• (From Wikipedia)- "The pub's sign shows an eagle carrying a small child in a fold of cloth suspended from a claw, which was derived from the crest of the Earl of Derby. The image is said to refer to a story of a noble-born baby having been found in an eagle's nest. It is said to bear a resemblance to artistic representations of the abduction of Ganymede by Zeus in the guise of an eagle in Greek Mythology."