Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/54

48

NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. viu. JULY 19, 1913. race. It is God's own method of producing an entente cordiale, and no other plan is worth a farthing."

Mr. Fisher Unwin adds:—

"I think this is one of the earliest and perhaps first use of the words."

Is an earlier use of the phrase to be found?

[Mr. Fisher Unwin is mistaken in supposing that Cobden's use of entente cordiale in 1859 is a very early example of the phrase. showed at 10 S. ix. 194 that it was used in September, 1848, by Queen Victoria in a letter to Lord John Russell, then Prime Minister; and that it had become so familiar during the Crimean War that The Times on 8 Jan., 1856, headed an article on omnibuses with the words 'The Omnibus Entente Cordiale.' At p. 472 of the same volume of 'N. & Q.' D. stated that the words "were commonly used of all the three ententes which, during the Monarchy of July, preceded the entente of 1860." For other instances see 10 S. viii. 168; ix. 338, 418; x. 37, 178; xii. 216.]

BANTERS FAMILY OF SWITHLAND AND LONDON. I shall be glad if any reader of ' N. & Q.' will kindly enlighten me as to the relationship between the following members of this family. From about 1743 to 1767 there appears in the Rate- Books of the parish of St. Clement Danes a house in Surrey Street, Strand, in the name of Sir John Danvers, Bart., as the owner. I am not sure whether this person can be identified with Sir John Danvers, Bart., of Swithland, Leicestershire, who died in 1796. and whose only surviving daughter and heiress married the Hon. Augustus Richard Butler, second son of the Earl of Lanesborough, who sold the London property about the year 1799.

In Boyle's ' Court Guide ' for the years 1790, 1792, 1793, and 1796 the name of a Sir John Danvers occurs at No. 11, Hanover Square, and it is significant that this house was sometimes occupied by the above- named Hon. A. R. Butler.

The question I want, if possible, to decide is whether the Sir John Danvers of Swith- land before mentioned and the Sir John Danvers of 11, Hanover Square, are one and the same person with, also, Sir John Danvers, owner of the house in Surrey Street, Strand. ALFRED S. FOORD. *

WEDDING - PIECES. I learn from Uln- termediaire, 10 Janvier, 1913, that in France it was customary till about 1850 for a bride- groom, during the marriage service, to offer his bride a number of coins or medals in a case. Generally they were embossed, rarely engraved or struck on a die. These wedding- pieces are now replaced by the marriage

medal, which the priest blesses with the two wedding rings. One writer on the- subject considers that the gift represents the dower which was formerly settled on the bride by the bridegroom. According to- another opinion the custom of giving these- marriage-pieces, which still survives in Barrois and in Berry, descends from the days of marriage by purchase. In the eleventh century a father " bought a wife for his son." Apparently purchase - money became dower, and the pieces given may indicate both the money settled on the wife and community of goods.

The present King of Spain gave his wife thirteen pieces of gold called " arras," in* testimony of their union. Marriage-pieces are also known from Saxony. Were they formerly used in the British Isles ?

B. L. R. C.

BRITISH TROOPSHIP WRECKED ON RE- UNION ISLAND. What was the name of the British troopship wrecked on Reunion (Bourbon) Island many years ago ? and in what year did this happen ? I heard about it on a French steamer in 1907, when the commandant gave me a glowing descrip- tion of the heroic behaviour of the High- landers (les higglanderes) on board the ill- fated vessel, which Was on its way from the Cape to Mauritius, but got out of its course and ran at almost full-speed on to the rocks in a small bight. All the horses had to be shot, and aJl the luggage, including the regi- mental plate, was lost. There was a ball on board at the moment, and the first intimation the islanders had of the accident was when they saw people of both sexes in full evening dress, and others in their night- dress, wandering about the fields.

L. L. K.

A PORTCULLIS AS A COAT OF ARMS. At a recent antiquarian meeting at the Town Hall, Romsey, Hants, when various objects of local interest were exhibited to a large gathering of the Southampton Ramblers' Club, a discussion arose as to the origin of the town seal, and whether it was merely a seal or had been granted as a coat of arms. One of the speakers remarked that if it was a coat of arms it was registered, and this fact could easily be proved by reference to the proper quarter. What is the proper quarter ? The seal, dated 1578 r is a portcullis, with the legend, " Sigilleum de Romsey Infra." Can any reader of ' N. &. Q.' help to clear up its origin ? In 1672 an oil painting on panel Was made of this portcullis, with the Mayor's initial*