Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/125

 .9*s. vii. F.B. 9, i9oi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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ductor had originated the nickname " Two- penny Tube." W. CURZON YEO. Richmond, Surrey.

D'AUVERGNE FAMILY (9 th S. vii. 68). The Marquis de Monclar has been good enough to send us a notice on the possible relations of the D'Auvergnes with the Duchy of Bouillon, from which it is clear that no Jersey Dauvergne could have the slightest right to the title of Prince de Bouillon. The last duke died in 1806, and the Congress of Vienna rejected the claims of two French nobles to the duchy on grounds of date which would have been still more fatal to the Jersey Protestant family. EDITOR.

VAN DER MEULEN (9 th S. vii. 87). There are many of his sieges (Dutch wars of Louis XIV.) at Versailles which answer to the description. D.

RHODODENDRONS AND OLEANDERS (9 th S. vii. 88). The oleander grows wild in Pales- tine; not so the rhododendron. But perhaps the oleander was once called "rhododendron," which, otherwise than botanically, it is.

D.

HERALDIC (9 th S. vi. 170). It is asked, " Do American families keep up heraldic bear- ings?" I answer, Certainly. Indeed, it would be strange if they did not, seeing that they are the descendants of peoples (European) with whom the bearing of arms has been a custom for centuries. The custom of bearing coat armour reached America with the arrival of the earliest European colonists, and here it has continued ever since. There is no differ- ence between Americans and Europeans so far as the mere bearing of arms goes, but in the manner in which arms are borne by the two kindred peoples there is a total difference.

In Great Britain and other parts of Europe the bearing of arms is regulated by special laws ; here there are no such laws ; hence arms are borne at the individual will of any citizen of the United States. The conse- quence is, that while some coats are borne in accordance with the laws of heraldry, others are not ; but, after all, Americans are not singular in that, as everybody knows.

The above refers, of course, to the white Americans of European origin and to family arms. The arms of the United States (as a nation), of the different states, and their cities rest on a distinct legal basis, having been assumed by legislative acts. Some of them are heraldic in design, others are not, but all are known to the law, and by it exist.

while the existence and recognition of in- dividual or family arms are but matters of custom a custom, however, too ancient and too firmly implanted in Americans to be eradicated. Of course, well-bred men never make a great display of coat armour ; you will not see it blazoned large upon their coaches ; but if you are asked to their houses you may find it engraved upon their plate or within the covers of their books.

I know of no roll of arms devoted exclu- sively to Pennsylvania families, but Glenn's 'Merion in the Welsh Tract' gives some arms with pedigrees, chiefly pertaining to offshoots from the ancient Cymric families. PENNS YLV ANI AN.

P.S. I find that Zieber's 'Heraldry in America,' published by the Bailey, Banks & Biddle Company, of Philadelphia, in 1895, gives some arms borne by Pennsylvania families. ' America Heraldica,' Brentano Bros., New York, 1886, does the same, but the number given is not large.

AGE OF MATRICULATION (9 th S. vi. 508). Instances of early matriculation have been collected at 7 th S. ix. 388, 516 ; x. 117, 198.

W. C. B.

DUTTON FAMILY (9 th S. vi. 409, 517 ; vii. 54). Since I last wrote on the Dutton family, I have read what Ormeroci says about the legend of the four esquires in his 'Miscellanea Palatina,' 1851 (not published). That most competent antiquary is clearly of opinion that there is no authentic foundation for the story. This is what he says (p. 43) :

" It is proper to add that Dr. Gower has stated in his 'Sketch of Cheshire Materials' (p. 47) that Dutton and the other Esquires of Lord Audley added ' frets' to their arms out of deference to the wish of Lord Audley in 1356, but this remark is appended to a citation from Daniell (Rennet's collection) without any authentication. If correct, it would not disprove use by Dutton ; but it is observed by Lysons that neither Dutton, who was Sheriff of Cheshire in 1356, the year of Poictiers, nor any other of the traditional Esquires are even named as such by Froissart, or by any of the old English historians."

It is much to be wished that MR. STEWART could find out when and where the story first appeared. The details have all the air of truth, but at present it is one of those legends which those know most about who are furthest removed in point of time from the indicated date. SHERBORNE

I suppose the authority for the statement quoted from the 'Complete History of England ' is Berners's ' Froissart.' But what proof is there that Dr. Gower's further information about the origin of the "fret"