Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/168

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. FEB. 25, im.

" Deus qui beatum Henricum Begem tuum sanctum militem, ecclesiae Defensorem et paupe- rum amicum in omnibus aduersis perfectae caritatis amore decorasti : praesta quaesumus ; ut eius exempla sequent.es, tarn in mundi pros- peris quam in aduersis perfecto corde tibi uiuamus. Qui uiuis in gloria regnas cum potensia moderans saecula cuncta. Amen."

In a Roll of Prayers (late fifteenth century), formerly belonging to Coverham Abbey, we have the same collect, such variants as the omission of " pauperum " and the reading " quam in eius aduersis " being rather errors of the scribe than any real divergence. This roll further gives us an illumination representing Henry VI. Though not very pertinent, it is perhaps worth noting that in an exquisite illumination in Henry VI.' s own Psalter, now one of the most precious treasures of the British Museum, the boy king appears kneeling before Our Lady and Child. This youthful figure has sometimes been mistaken for Richard II. Henry VI. is depicted in the ' Horse in usum Sarum,' Paris, 1530, where the collect to him is also given. It would be interesting to know if there are any instances where he is shown with the aureola of a saint, or, more properly, with the rays of a beato.

The most important representation, how- ever, of Henry VI. in this connexion is that on a panel of the rood-screen at Whimple, Devon. Here, without any differentiation, he stands on an equality with seven popular and famous saints St. John Baptist, St. Sebastian, St. Barbara, St. Apollonia, St. Clement, St. Sidwell, St. Roch. The rood-screen has long since been destroyed, but the panels were discovered turned upside down, and doing service as pulpit steps.

When we consider that this devotional painting of King Henry is to be seen in a Devonshire village, that Coverham Abbey used his collect, that a proper antiphon and prayers are to be found in MS. Horae and Psalters, not to mention the local cult at Windsor and the general fame of the miracles, it is impossible to subscribe to the statement that " Henry VI. was originally canonized by the apocryphal press of Wynkyn de Worde, and some foreign heretical printers, who copied after him li (' N. & Q,, s 2 S. i. 509). On the contrary, we have every indication of a flourishing and vigorous cult, suppressed only by the Reformation, and doubtless revived under Queen Mary I., a cult whose memory was green in the late days of James I.

MONTAGUE SUMMERS.

SOME NOTES ON " CANIONS."

As a query which I submitted to ' N. & Q/ re the subject of the following notes elicited no answers, I venture to forward in more or less connected form the results of my own independent studies, in the hope they may be of use. I may say that M. Maurice Leloir, president of the " Societe de 1'Histoire du Costume " of Paris, is in agreement with my views on the point. Should any of your correspondents care to bring to my notice any further evidence on the subject,. whether confirmative or antagonistic to my theory, I can only be grateful.

Canions (later form canons}: French: canons (de chausses). Spanish : canones, muslos (de calcas), caraguelles. Italian r cannoni, cosciali, ginocliielli.*

The original " canions " (of breeches), so commonly mentioned by Elizabethan and Jacobean writers, were, in the opinion of Planche and Fairholt, ornamental rolls at the breecnes' knees, sometimes slashed, such as occasionally appear in contemporary prints, &c. Every subsequent writer and lexicographeri has docilely adopted this quite gratuitous assumption, apparently without troubling to verify it from first- hand sources. I have been unable to find a shred of evidence to support this explana- tion ; indeed, all the evidence points to an entirely different explanation. Although the " canions " are sometimes mentioned in connexion with the knees, there is nothing to suggest " ornamental rolls." The pri- mitive English forms of the word sufficiently betray the n (= ny) of the Spanish original, canon, which implies an object more or less tubular; and Minsheu's ' Ductor,' 1615, expressly asserts that the " canions of breeches " were named from their resemblance to " cannons of artillerie, or Cannes, or pots." Note first, that they seem to be invariably associated with short, wide breeches of the " trunkhose " class, e.g. " round," " French, ' T or " paned ' ' hose (Co varrubias, in his ' Tesoro,' 1611, defines the canones as " los q' se pega en las calcas sueltas.") Secondh r, that they were a marked (and cosmopolitan)

1615 ; Cesar Oudin, 1607 ; Vittori, 1609 ; Florio, 1598 ; Torriano, 1659 ; Oudin Covarrubias,. 1675 ; Ant. Oudin, 1643. For variant English, forms of the word see the ' N.E.D.'
 * Cotgrave, 1611; Percyval, 1591 ; Minsheu r

t Even the ' N.E.D.' obediently follows suit. The latest edition of Nares's ' Glossary,' while abstaining from any exact definition, is careful not to stand committed to Planch e's rendering-