Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/163

 10 s. x. AUG. is, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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the Flag rightly flown with a table of proportions, guided by which the flag- makers sewed together the actual bunting. This is known as the Admiralty pattern. In this pattern lies all the pother. Ho\r this is so I shall try to show.

Heraldry has its distinct rules. A cross is one-third, and a saltire is one-fifth, of the shield's or flag's width. A fimbriation, in English heraldry, has no actual proportion assigned to it : it is regarded simply as a narrow edging, and is generally introduced to keep tincture off tincture. Again, all charges of the same kind, appearing on a shield or flag, are of the same size unless, as on Norman-shaped shields, these charges must necessarily be smaller at the base than at the chief. Finally, an exception to the exact proportions of ordinaries and sub- ordinaries is made when a field is crowded with them. In this case they are somewhat lessened.

Judged by these rules, the Admiralty pattern contains two very bad blunders, and a third hardly less excusable. Take the cross of St. George and its fimbriations. Years ago, nigh upon forty, a French visitor to the Britannia, being known as an enthusi- astic lover of heraldry, was asked to describe the Union Flag to the cadets. He is said to have spoken after this wise : " You will see in the centre of your magnificent flag (alas that so it is !) the white cross of St. Denis of France surmounted by the red cross of St. George, to show how you did win the battle of Trafalgar." The fimbria- tion of the St. George is so unnecessarily wide that, to a student of heraldry not previously warned, it does seem as if the proper blazon should be, " Cross argent, with a cross gules superinduced." This is the first blunder.

The second is, if possible, a less excusable mistake, and certainly one giving rise to considerable irritation. I refer to the treatment of the saltires. The heralds tell us they are to be counterchanged. An essential principle of counterchanging is that the charges counterchanged are equally treated. That this was the intention of the College is plainly declared by reference to the sketch which accompanies the verbal blazon. Rough though it be (I mean, drawn without exact measurement), the saltire of St. Patrick is there shown as equal in width to that of St. Andrew. And why not ? Surely Pat is as well set up as Sandy any day of the week. It was the unknown authors of the Admiralty pattern who chose to take St. Patrick's fimbriations

off the field of the saltire, and not off the Flag's field. Blunder number two !

Lastly, what reason was there for making the sub-ordinary (the fimbriation) absurdly wide round the St. George, and ridiculously narrow in the case of St. Patrick ? Gratuitous ignoring, ^this, of rules for yet a third time.

Please extend your indulgence a little further. The Admiralty pattern does show some acquaintance with the rules above noted, for the St. George, plus its fimbria- tions, is one-third the Flag's width, and the two saltires, plus the St. Patrick's fimbria- tion, are one-fifth. All the more reason why the rules should have been uniformly closely observed. If it were impossible to build up a flag under recognized rules, then one might be contented to approve the Admiralty pattern ; but such is not the case. I have had many flags made by a well-known London firm, both for my own use and the use of friends and of public institutions ; and these flags have invariably been admired, and are free from the un- necessary blunders so long complained of as stereotyped by the Admiralty. Surely there is no occasion to stand on one's dignity and refuse to correct an error. The Admiralty are not heralds, nor are they flag-makers, they represent our first line of defence, our handy men. And as to the College of Heralds, they have been sinned against, not sinning, and so they might well come to the Flag's rescue.

' N. & Q.' has already issued a capital coloured drawing of the Admiralty pattern. I subjoin the proportions of another flag, which are heraldically correct : Flag, 7i ft. by 15ft.

St. George 21 in. 1 qni n nr 1

Two fimbriations, each 4i in. 9 / l St. Andrew and St. Patrick, "^

each6|in 13i } 18 in., or.

St. Patrick, fimbriation ... 4| J

If 4iin. be deemed too narrow, and so tending to over-accentuate the red in the Flag, it is easy to increase the fimbriations and diminish the cross, e.g. :

Three fimbriations, 5 in. each. St. George, 20 in. St. Andrew, 13 in.

I am only a country parson, unknown and uninfluential, so I trust that ' N. & Q.' will come to the help of the Flag.

J. R. CBAWFOBD.

In connexion with the matters put upon record by MB. JOHN C. FBANCIS concerning the National Flag, it may be well for