Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/297

 12 S. VII. SEPT. 25, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

241

LONDON, SEPTEMBER 35, 1920.

CONTENTS. No. 128.


 * St Omer, 241 Dorothy Osborne's Letters, 243

Modern Folk-lore of Warwickshire : Cures, 245 Ety- mology of "Noise" "The Clink," 246 Military Services of the Wardell Family in Durham and Jersey Man-at- Arms: New Signification Denny, De Deene, and Windsor Families, 247' Birds in the High Hall Garden ' -Kids--=Kid-Gloves, 248.

QUERIES: Sir Thomas k Becket Admiral Hosier's Family" Heighten, Tighten, and Scrub," 248 Peter, John and Wm. Faulkes Mary Bowman Swindon John Wm. Rose Wm. Brown, Admiral -Picture of Old Covent Garden Grant of Kyliemore and the Young Pretender- Hodges Family Charles Churchill. 249 Chapel and Bridge - Druiumond and Cpcaes Kitty Clive Silver Wine Cisterns Font Inscriptions Worcester China Crim-au War Sayce "I he Munster Farmer's Magazine,' 250 The Pilgrim Fathers-Cape. W. H. Cranstoun Statues in the Franziskawer - Kirche, Innsbruch 'Grubbian Kxpostulantiuncula ' Authors Wanted, 251.

iREPLIKS: President John Nicholson Herbert of Nevis, 2-M St. Anthony of Padua izaak Walton and Banbury, 253 Ktvmology of "Liverpool" ''Crutches for Lame Ducks," 254 Miraculous Host of Wilsnack Hedges of England Bishops Burnet and Bedell Principal London Coffee-houses, &c. Vagaries of Indexers, 25' Beacons- i hVld's 'Sybil': " Caravan " Stourhead and Pope, 256 Ducks and Drakes Domestic History in the Nineteenth Century Steuben's 'Death of Napoleon,' 257 The Lights of London Wine Bihber Font not at Ongar Pannier Market Hell Fire Clubs Mahogany and the Dictionaries Westminster Chimrs Old Horse Guards Buildings- Old Semaphore Towers, 258.

m>TES ON BOOKS: 'Old English Ballads, 1553-1625 ' ' Rabelsis Readings,'

."Notices to Correspondents.

ST. OMER. II.

ST. OMER was the British G.H.Q. from the beginning of the War till the end of Rue Carnot, on Nov. 14, 1914. During the war the town was not shelled by long range guns, but often suffered from air bombard- ments, especially in 1918. The Croix de Guerre was conferred upon the town on Oct. 5, 1919, the citation being in the following terms :
 * March, 1916. Lord Roberts died at No. 52,

" La Ville de Saint- Omer, centre important de 'communications, a ete exposee a d'incessants bombardements par avions, qui ont fait dans sa population de nombreuses victimes. A conserve", nialgre le danger, une attitude stoique et s'est -attachee pendant toute la guerre k maintenir sa vie economique, rendant ainsi d'^mments services
 * aux armees alliees et au pays."

During the years 1914-19 the streets of St. Omer were probably trodden by more

Englishmen than in any other equal period of its history. But since the days of Queen Elizabeth the town has, of course, been in constant touch with the British Isles. Long before the establishment of the English College, however, Englishmen had found their way to St. Omer. Whether Alfred the 'Great visited the monastery of St. Bertin, as stated by one of the local writers, I do not know, but Dunstan came to the city, pro- bably in 956 : Anselm in 1007 ; Thomas Becket in 1165; Henry III. in 1260; the Regent Bedford in 1433 ; and Henry VIII in 1513. James II, as Duke of York, visited the Abbey of St. Bertin in 1657, when in the service of Spain, and after the loss of his crown * ' trouva une genereuse hospitalite ,' ' at St. Omer, the town iri the meanwhile having become French. At the King's death at St. Germain-en-Laye his bowels, according to the 'D.N.B.,' were divided between the English College at St Omer and the parish Church of St. Germain. His heart, accord- ing to the same authority, was deposited in the Convent of the Visitation at Chaillot. Abbe Dusautoir, however, states that the King's heart was bestowed upon the English College. But this is probably a slip. Whether a portion of the bowels of the last Stuart King of England was a desirable possession may be a matter of opinion. But however that may be it disappeared, with the other relics of the King, during the Revolution.

There is no record, as far as I know, of William Ill's ever having been inside the town, but in April, 1677, when St. Omer was besieged by the French, he marched to its relief, only to suffer defeat at the battle of Cassel. The site of the battle is 12| kilo- metres to the north-east of St. Omer, in the plain below Mount Cassel, and is marked by an obelisk.* The Prince of Orange, as he then was, is said to have displayed great personal bravery, and, according to Burnet, "lost not much besides the honour of the day, only the consequence of the action was that St. Omer did immediately capitulate."

Maryborough, though not laying siege to the town in 1710, came as near as St. Martin- au-Laert, a village 1 kilometre to the north- west. The chief inn of the village bears the sign ' Au grand Marlbrouck ' at the present moment. When the avenue uniting St. Martin with St. Omer was first planted in 1724 one of the names by which it was

For inscription see ' N. & Q.,' 12 S. vi. 226.