Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/399

 V.MAY 19, im] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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"Ubique" is one of the mottoes of the Royal Artillery, and also of the Royal Engineers. " Ubique patriam reminisci," the motto of a noble English family, is a fuller statement of the patriotic duty of re- membrance everywhere of the fatherland.

''Unita fortior" is the motto of the second battalion of the Scots Guards, who, like most other people and things, are stronger by unity.

"Vel exuviae triumphant" is the second motto of the Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment, and shows the soldier's determina- tion to be either triumphant, or left dead and stripped on the field.

"Vestigia nulla retrorsum" is the motto of the 5th Princess Charlotte of Wales's Dra- goon Guards. "To take no step backward" is the gallant soldier's desire, though to follow it literally would have lost some great victories. The verse is a reminiscence of Horace.

"Veteri frondescit honore" is the motto of the Buffs East Kent Regiment, and it is not to be doubted that the honour gained by its veterans will flourish again and again.

"Viret in seternum" is the sentiment adopted by the 13th Hussars.

" Virtutis fortuna comes " is the motto of the Duke of Wellington's West Riding Re- giment, and was that of the great soldier whose name the regiment bears. That "success is the companion of valour," and that virtue and valour are the same, is, naturally, the victor's creed, but must be taken with the notable exception that valour does not always save from defeat. Indeed, the truest valour has been shown where victory was impossible.

" Virtutis Namurcensis prsemium " is the motto of the Royal Irish Regiment, as a reward for its valour at the battle of Namur.

"Vivat prudentia regnans" is the motto of the 17th Company of Grenadiers, who thus hope that wisdom may reign.

Of these fifty-five mottoes it will be noticed thatoneis German, one Welsh, twoare French, four are Gaelic, four are English, and forty- three are Latin. The preponderance of Latin mottoes is no doubt due to the influence of the classical education of a bygone generation ; but if utility alone is to be considered, it seems probable that a well-selected motto in a language understood by all the men of the regiment would have greater influence. It would be well if those regiments that do not already possess mottoes were now to adopt " winged words " for the expression of their hopes and desires. Such mottoes may be an

inspiration to the performance of duty in times of difficulty and danger.

WILLIAM E. A. AXON. 47, Derby Street, Moss Side, Manchester.

THE KINGSTON CORONATION STONE, A RELIC OF THE HEPTARCHY.

I TOOK part recently in a discussion, in the Town Hall at Kingstpn-ori-Thames, on this stone, the occasion being the meeting there of an antiquarian society.

In 9 th S. ii. 233, 373, 516, some communica- tions appeared on the coronations at King- ston. The authorities for the list of seven kings recorded round the stone at Kingston are given by Lysons in his 'Environs of London,' and are as follows :

Eadward the Elder. ' Diceto inter decem Script.,' col. 451, and Bromton's 'Chron.'

jEthelstan. 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,' Bromton, W. Malmesbury, Huntingdon, Hoveden.

Eadmund. 'Diceto,' col. 452.

Eadred. Ibid., col. 455, R. Hoveden, Holinshed.

Eadwy. 'Diceto, 3 Holinshed.

Eadward. ' Diceto,' Holinshed.

^Ethelred. ' A.-S. Chronicle,' Bromton, Hunting- don, Hoveden, Holinshed.

All the chief MS. versions of the ' Anglo- Saxon Chronicle' record the coronation of JEthelstan at Kingston ; buttheMSS. known as Cott. Tiber., A 6, Cott. Tiber., B 1, and Cott. Tiber., B 4, are more explicit in stating that he was so crowned as King of Mercia.

Surrey was a sub-kingdom of Mercia as early as the time of Wulfere. In the charter, dated A.D. 675, in which Frithswald, the sub- regulus of Surrey, granted land to the abbey of Chertsey, he says :

"I Frithswald the donor with Ercenwald make the sign of the cross, and that this donation may be made more sure, this charter has been confirmed by Wulfere, King of Mercia, who put his hand on the altar at a place which is called Tame, and him- self signed it with the sign of the Holy Cross."

He also says that he is subregulus of Wulfere. The coronations at Kingston are based on historical evidence. The evidence of the connexion of the stone with these cere- monies is traditional and circumstantial. The descriptive accounts given of ^Ethel- stan sitting on this stone upon a raised

Elatform in the Market-Place at Kingston ave no ancient authority, as far as I know, to support them. The coronation of the Christian kings ^thelstan and ^thelred, during which ceremony /Ethelred is recorded to have laid the oath 'he took to govern his people well on Christ's altar (Kemble, ' Saxons,' ii. 35-36, quoting Anglo-Saxon MS.), would certainly not have taken place on a