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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[2a S. NO 3., JAN. 19. '56.

In this latter instance we find the local designa- tion converted into a surname, corresponding with that of our English family ; and further researches will, no doubt, multiply such instances.

But, if a coincidence of name authorises," jn some measure, the supposition of a French de- scent, it cannot perhaps be deduced with the same probability from a consideration of the arms which this family has so long borne ; for, though the fleur-de-lis, so far as we are concerned, is unquestionably of French derivation, it has been (though never considered an ordinary charge) of frequent use in many periods of our history. It has been so, not only in immediate and legitimate connexion with royal alliances, and as an honour- able augmentation conceded by the sovereign for services rendered in the wars against, or some- times with France ; but, as appears at first sight, from an almost indiscriminate assumption by many hundred families, whose right and title to such a distinction may occasionally admit of a question.

During a residence of many months in Paris, I have availed myself of the courteous permission of the conservateurs of the Bibliotheque Imperiale and of the Musee des Estampes, to consult many volumes, which might elucidate this subject of the Hillier family, particularly in reference to their armorial bearings. But, while personally much interested in this immediate inquiry, the wider and more general subject of the charge, commonly distinguished as the fleur-de-lis, has unavoidably forced itself upon my attention. Many notes, relating to its origin and adoption, have been made from Montfaucon, Pere Anselme, and others, which may perhaps be deemed worthy of preservation in your pages.

To these notes a much greater extension has been given since my return to England ; and a list has been made from all available sources of the English names royal, noble, and gentle which now make pretensions to the fleur-de-lis. This list is long ; but, as I perceive from a late number, that, in subjects of some interest, length is not a ground for exclusion, I may hereafter forward for your approval (?) the catalogue which has hitherto been prepared solely for my own reference. C. H. P.

Brighton.

INTERMENT AT GLASGOW CATHEDRAL.

Several months since, in the process of reno- vating the interior of the cathedral of Glasgow, the workmen, in lifting the pavement in that part of the choir near the pulpit, where it is supposed the high altar formerly stood, came upon a grave which was found immediately below the pavement, built with stone, and of small

depth, and covered on the top with a leaden plate or slab. The crypt (or ancient burial-place) being under this part of the choir, and the space or division from the roof of the former to the pavement of the latter being but little, seemed to preclude giving more depth to the grave. On further investigation, the grave was seen to con- tain only the dry bones of an individual who had been interred without a coffin, but wrapped up in cloths of silk (apparently of French manu- facture), which, from fragments of the texture, had been of a rich quality, interspersed with threads of gold, and fringes of a like quality. No orna- ments were discovered, nor inscriptions, nor any thing in the least from which to conjecture the name and rank of the person. The bones, from their dimensions, show him to have been a man of more than ordinary stature, of great strength, with a very large head, denoting, as phrenologists would argue, from its particular formation, much of the animal propensity ; not a tooth in the jaws are wanting, and all of the most beautiful white enamel, from which the inference is drawn, that he had died in the prime of life. It is a matter of considerable curiosity who he was that was thus honoured with a grave in such an important site of the cathedral, and perhaps some of the corre- spondents of " N. & Q." acquainted with old ec- clesiastical usages, may assist towards a solution of the problem. No written nor traditional in- formation exists to afford any clue. The^proba- bility is, that he may have been one of the dignified clergy connected with the cathedral before the Reformation -from popery, dr. 1560, or one of the subsequent Episcopalian archbishops who held sway, though with occasional disturbance in their seats, till the Revolution of 1688. The crypt was discontinued as a place of interment in 1595, and from that date to 1801, was occupied as a Pres- byterian church for the barony parish of Glasgow. 3 G. N.

Public Baptisms in Private Howes. With reference to the quotation from Pepys (" N. & Q.," 1" S. ix. 399.), let me ask, Whence arose the custom of the clergy going to private houses to perform the ceremony of public baptism (not merely private baptism) ? This was done, about the year 1792 or 1793, by a Dr. Ashe. Of what London parish was he Incumbent? Marylebone? or St. George's, Hanover Square ? I. R. R-

Ode. on Sir John Moore. Can you inform n>e in which of the London newspapers (with the date) appeared a letter from the Rev. Dr. Mjjler, author of Modern History Philosophically Illus- trated, wherein he clearly establishes the claim of