Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/254

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

L2 1 "* S. NO 13., MAR. 29. '56.

par M. Borel Hauterive, annees 1843 44 (Paris, au Bureau de la Revue Historique de la Noblesse, Rue Bleue, 28.), gives the following summary of the facts connected with the history of the fleur- de-lis. It corresponds generally with the account here extracted from the volumes of Pere Anselme and Montfaucon :

" Depuis_ le regne de Louis le Jeune, jusqu'il celui de Charles le Sage (V.) nos rois ont porte' tin ecu d'azur seme' de fleurs-de-lis d'or sans noinbre. Charles VI., ou, selon qnelqnes historiens, son predecesseur, reduisit b. trois les fleurs-de-lis qui chargeaient les armes de France" (vol. ii. p. 2.).

This interesting and instructive work supplies, besides a " traite de blason," and the genealogy of the royal houses and nobility of France, a com- plete "Revue des Galleries des Croisades" at Ver- sailles, and lists of the nobility in the chronolo- gical order of their creation under the Bourbons, the Empire, J;he Restoration, the Orleans dynasty, and the Second Empire. I have yet to learn to what date this publication was continued.

It is not my purpose to pursue this subject in relation to France, beyond the point to which it has now been brought, though it might be inter- esting to ascertain how far these distinctive em- blems of royalty were in that country conceded to individuals of a lower rank ; and on what ground these honourable ensigns were, if ever, assumed beyond the sphere of royal alliance or concession. My immediate inquiry leads to the introduction of the fleur-de-lis as an armorial charge in Eng- land, and to its wide and apparently uncontrolled usage in the shields of so many of the aristocracy of this country. C. H. P.

THE " SILLY GOOSE ITS COURAGE, FAITHFUL- NESS, AND LONGEVITY.

As a fair portion of the pages of " N. & Q." is usually devoted to your correspondents' Queries, I presume a corner will not be denied to answers.

It i?, I believe, generally admitted, that, of the feathered family, none attain to a greater age than the eagle, the swan, and the goose. This last- mentioned bird, so often perverted to a contemp- tuous application, is, nevertheless, noted for its instinct and affection, and will not unfrequently exhibit proofs of peculiar attachment to man and the lower animals.

Instances are also recorded of its longevity. The goose (Anser Domesticus) has been known, like the eagle (whose precarious and brigandish mode of subsistence renders such duration re- markable), to live seventy, eighty, and even a hundred years. Perhaps some of your naturalist readers may be able to confirm this statement. I recollect reading (but I cannot now quote my authority) of a goose, which foil a martyr to pa-

rental solicitude at eighty ! The bird was dis- turbed, while sitting on her eggs, by a sow, prying rudely into the mysteries of incubation ; and suf- fered herself to be despatched by the monster, rather than resign her seat, though giving promise, even at that advanced age, of additional years of conjugal happiness, and her owners the full fruit thereof. Silly goose ! This bird " once on its mettle," is capable of high and chivalrous acts, and will occasionally perform great feats of valour in the face of an enemy. Ganders in the Russian capital are subjected to a regular course of training, like our game cocks, for the goose-pit ; which thus becomes a frequent source of amusement to the Petersburghians, and as frequent a scene of fierce and sanguinary encounters. The vigilance of the goose may be almost said to be a matter of his- tory. It was to a goose " challenge," at a mo- ment when a starving garrison were on the eve of a night " surprise," and worn-out sentries slum- bered on their "watch," that the capital owed its preservation, and a gallant patrician his costly gifts of corn and wine *, the reward of his heroism (Query, a case of anseres contra gallos /).

As regards the annual marketable value of the goose (and its progeny), I believe I am not far wrong in saying, that it is computed at little less than that of the common ewe. Where a systematic profit is made on the produce of this bird, and the feathers are periodically plucked, or sheared, the yield has been estimated at double the value of the sheep

" Sic vos, non vobis plumigeretis, aves ? " " Silly goose ! " F. PHILLOTT.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MACAULAY.

Traditionary Account of William's Landing. The following is taken from a little provincially printed book in my possession, entitled Miscella- neous Observations in the Course of Two Tours in the West of England, Sfc., by M. Dunsford, Merch*, 12 mo., 1800:

" Walking alone on the quay (at Brixham), I met in- cidentally a well drest elderly man, who, suspecting the cause of my contemplation, desired me to walk with him to the stone steps that led down from the quay to the edge of the water. I called you to this spot, Sir,' says he, ' to show you the place where King William landed, and to give you the traditionary account here of this remarkable occurrence. I am seventy years old, and had the tradition from my grandmother, who died many years since at a great age. She was sixteen when the Prince of Orange's Fleet came into Torbay, and the boats of the fleet into the harbour, with the prince and his body- guards, to land more conveniently. The people were frightened at first, but in a little time recovered their

half a pound of corn and a quarter of a flask of wine; and this after a six months' blockade.
 * M. Manlius received, from every man of the citadel,