Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/487

 SUPPLEMENT TO NOTES AND QUERIES.

THE NATIONAL FLAG.

(9 th S. v. 414, 440, 457, 478.)

WHAT is probably the most complete account of the flag commonly known as thfr Union Jack is to be found in the Archaeological Journal for December, 1891 (xlviii. 295-314), in a paper on the subject by Mr. Emanuel Green, F.S.A. The history of the flag is there fully set forth, with a series of coloured plates showing (1) the formation of the first Union Jack, (2) various alternative ways of combining the three banners of St. Andrew, St. Patrick, and St. George, and (3) the formation of the second or present Union Jack. The several alternatives are interesting, as showing the superiority of the design eventually adopted.

I notice that PROF. SKEAT says of the official description of the flag that "no description can be more exact"; but Mr. Green points out that it contains no intimation how the fimbriation of the St. Patrick's cross is to be obtained, or that the same cross is narrower than that of St. Andrew ; there is also nothing to show that the fimbriation is confined to one side of the St. Patrick's cross.

It is obvious, on drawing the flag, that, whether intentionally or otherwise, the sal tire is actually composed of a fimbriated St. Patrick's cross dimidiated with the cross of