Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/155

 wane. A., i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 121 LONDON, AUGUST 13, 1921. CONTENTS. No. 174. NOTES : The Sforzas and the Order of the Golden Spur, 121 The Oldest London Statue, 122 Richard Parker and Masonic Emblems, 123 An English Army List of 1740, 125" Sweet Lavender," 126 Seals of Married Women in the Middle Ages The Great Rain A John Raphael Smith Discovery " A Native of America " " Word-painting," " Word-painters," 127. QUERIES : James McGill, Founder of the McGill Univer- sity, Montreal The King as Prebendary of St. David's Father Marianus A Hindustani Grammar A Transla- tion of Khafi Khan, 128 Weatheral George III.'s son, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation ' The Noble Laird of Thornyburn ' The 29th Division Groute's Enamelled Pictures ' Shuffle- wing " or " Shovel-wing " Sir Humphry Davy's Family Davie, Davy and Davye Faibus Segnius and Raphael Placentinus Sir John Parsons, t., 129 Parsons Family Roche-Pichemer Col. Hutchinson the Regicide English Railings in America Cheese Saint James I. and a Widow Bookseller of Bristol Vicar of Thirsk Quotation Wanted Authors Wanted References Wanted, 130. REPLIES : Waterloo Bounty, 131 The Ivory Gate of Virgil Manor of Churchill, Oxon State Trials in West- minster Hall, 132 Wild-cat Scheme Demagogue Robert de Morley and Robert de Monlalt Dr. Arndell, Hobart, 133 Baptism of Infant on its Mother's Coffin Emerson's ' English Traits ' Princess Elizabeth, " Re- fined Intrigante," 134 " A Frog he would a-wooing go " Robert Johnson, Governor cf South Carolina Or- miston of Ormiston, Haddingtonshire, 135 Agricultural and Horticultural Writers : Biographical Details wanted Verses wanted : Conjugal Squabbles American English Gleaning by the Poor Tantary Bobus, 136 Butt Woman Book Borrowers " Mark Rutherford," 137 Old Song Wanted Smallest Pig of a Litter Long Married Life De Valera, 138 War Portents Epitaphs Desired, 139. NOTES ON BOOKS : ' A History of Pisa : Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries ' ' Epilegomena to the Study of Greek Religion' 'Ann Dutton : A Life and Bibliography.' OBITUARY : William Jackson Pigott. Notices to Correspondents. JSotesf. THE SFORZAS AND THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN SPUR. I. SOME time ago I had before me original letters patent issued in 1840 by Lorenzo Duke Sforza Cesarini (" Laurentius Dux Sfortia Caesarinus "), in which he recited that : Paulus Papa III. per suas Literas Apostolicas sub Plumbo expeditas sub datum Romae apud Sanctum Petrum Anno Incarnationis Dominicae MDXXXIX. xviii. Kalendis Maji Pontificatus Sui Anno v. Majoribus nostris, Nobis, ac caeteris omnibus de Familia, et Prosapia Sfortia amplam, liberam, et omnimodam facultatem, et auctor- itatem inter alias concesserit Equites, et Milites Auratos, et Sacri Palatii, Aulaeque Lateranensis Cpmites creandi, instituendi, et solemniter or- dinandi, et quos benemeritos, dignosque censere- mus, Equitis Auratae Militiae, Comitisque Palatini hujusmodi titulo, nomine, et insignibus decorandi, and proceeded, with a superfluity of words and commas, to confer these honours on the grantee. Long excerpts from the Bull of Paul III. (Alessandro Farnese) are given by Ratti ('Delia Famiglia Sforza,' i. 264-6). The grantee, Sforza Sforza, Count of Santa Fiora, was son of Count Bosio II. by Cos- tanza Farnese, the legitimate daughter of the grantor. The Pope's tendency to nepotism, of which the most signal instance was the grant of the Duchy of Parma to his son, is said to have caused him remorse in his later days : Si je n'avais point fait princes mes parents, je serais maintenant sans reproche devant Dieu, et exempt d'un grand peche (' L'Art de verifier les Dates,' iii. 422-3). II. In Anglo -Latin " miles auratus " would mean simply a knight bachelor ; but Duke Lorenzo's patent goes on to grant the new knight the right Crucem auream aurato calcari insignitam ante pectus pendentem defer endi, Palliumque simili Cruce auro sericoque rubeo contexta ornandi. Here we have clearly the insignia of the Order of the Golden Spur, known as St. Sylvester since its statutes were revised by Gregory XVI. in 1841 (Lawrence -Archer, ' Orders of Chivalry,' pp. 191-2, 331, and Plate xxxvi.). Lawrence -Archer states that : " The Knights used to be styled, in their patents, ' Latern Counts Palatine.' " (ibid., p. 191). Perhaps we should read Lateran, but even then the description seems curious. It is interesting to find " Comes Pala- tinus " used in the original sense of " Count of the Palace," and still more interesting to find " Comes " combining its original mean- ing of " Companion " with that of " Count," the right being granted to the new knight uti Comiti Palatino Sanctissimum Dominum Nostrum Papam una cum aliis Comitibus con- comitandi. III. The date of the foundation of the Order of the Golden Spur seems to be uncertain. Lawrence -Archer mentions the legend that it was founded by Constantino and confirmed by Pope Sylvester, adding : " The true origin, however, must be attributed to either Pope Paul III. or to Pope Pius IV. in 1559 " (p. 191). This might mislead the unwary reader into supposing that Pius IV. succeeded Paul III. in that year ; but Paul III. reigned from 1534 to 1549, and Pius was not elected until the night of