Jan. 31. 1852.1 



NOTES A^D QUERIES. 



Ill 



«dit., pp. 116. 118. 122. 123. 124. 130.) Mottoes 

 ■were used as early as 1606, but I am not pre- 

 p;ired to say they orijrinated at that p3riod, 

 thouujh I do not observe any mention of them 

 ill Dugdale's accounts of the ceremonies at tlie 

 creation of Serjeants of an earlier date. The 

 following mottoes may interest some of your 

 readers : 



Sir Edward Coke, 1606. Lex est tutissima cassis. 



Sir John Walter and Sir Thomas Trevor, 1625. 

 Regi legi servire lihertas. 



Sir Henry Yelverton, 1625. Slat lege corona. 



Sir Robert Berkeley, 1627. Lege Deus et rex. 



Robert Caliis, 1627. Regis oracula legis. 



Sir George Vernon, 1627. Hex legis regnique 

 patronus. 



Sir James Weston, 1631. Servus regi serviens 

 legi. 



Sir Robert Heath, 1631. Lex regis vis regis. 



Sir George Jeffreys, 1680. A Deo rex a rege 

 lex. 



Sir Michael Foster, 1736. Nuiiquam lihertas 

 gratior. 



Sir William Blackstone, 1770. Secundis duhi- 

 isqne rectus. 



Sir Alexander Thomson, 1787. Reverentia le- 

 gum. 



William Cockell, 1787. Stat lege corona. 



On Serjeant Cockell's call, " in consequence of 

 a late regulation no rings were given to the judges, 

 the bar, or to the attornies." 



Some of the older, and most of the modern, law 

 reporters, mention the mottoes on the rings given 

 by the Serjeants. C. H. Cooper. 



Cambridge. 



T. P. is informed that the custom of Serjeants- 

 at-law presenting rings with mottoes prevailed 

 long before a.d. 1670. In the Journal of the 

 Arch. Listituie, vol. vii. p. 196-, he will fmd men- 

 tion of a medifEval ring of tlie kind, described as 

 "A Serjeant-at-law's gold ring, the hoop -f of an 

 incli in width, and of equal thickness, inscribed 

 Lex regis prcesidium." Cetrep. 



On June 8, 1705, fifteen Serjeants-at-law took 

 the customary oaths at the Chancery Bar, and 

 delivered to the Lord Keeper a ring for the 

 Queen, and another for his H. R. H. Prince George 

 of Denmark, each ring being worth Ql. 13*. Ad. 

 The Lord Keeper, Lord Treasurer, Lord Steward, 

 Lord Privy Seal, Lord High Chamberlain, Master 

 of the Household, Lord Chamberlain, and the two 

 Chief Justices, received each a ring of the value of 

 1 S-v. ; the Lord Chief Baron, Master of the Rolls, the 

 Justices of either Bench, and two Chief Secretaries 

 each one worth 16s. ; the Chief Steward and 

 Comptroller each a ring valued at IZ. ; the Mar- 

 shal, Warden of the Fleet, every Serjeant-at-Law, 

 the Attorney-General, and Solicitor-General, each 

 a ring worth 12i-. ; the three Burons of Exchequer 



a ring worth 10s. ; the two Clerks of the Crown, 

 the three Prothonotaries, the Clerks of the War- 

 rants, the Prothonotary of Queen's Bench, and 

 the Chirographer, each a ring worth 5s. ; each 

 Filazer and Exigenter, the Clerk of the Council, 

 and the Custos Brevium, each a ring that cost 

 2s. 6t?. The motto on the rings was this, " Mo- 

 ribus, arinis, legibus." Mackenzie Walcott, M.A. 

 48. Jermvn Street. 



EXTERMINATION OF EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ORKNEY. 



(Vol. iv., p. 439.) 



It is capable of demonstration that Christianity 

 was introduced into the Orkney Islands, or at 

 least that missionaries were sent there, long pre- 

 vious to the invasion of Harold Harfagre. Your 

 correspondent W. H. F. mentions that Depping, in 

 the Histoire des Expeditions Maritimes des Nor- 

 inands, states that Sigurd, the second nominally, 

 though really the first earl, expelled the Christians 

 from Orkney, and he requests to know Depping's 

 authority ; as the circumstance is not alluded to 

 by Torfaeus, the Orkneyinga-Saga, or Soorro Stur- 

 leson, and has been " either overlooked by Barry, 

 or unknown to him." 



The well-known " Diploma or Genealogical 

 Deduction of the Earls of Orkney," written by 

 the bishop of that diocese in the year 1406, and 

 printed in Wallace's Accoimt of Orkney, and in 

 the appendices to Barry's History, and the Ork- 

 neyinga-Saga, is generally looked upon, from the 

 circumstances under which it was drawn up, as 

 an authentic document of considerable historical 

 value. It is there mentioned, that the Norsemen 

 found the islands inhabited by the Peti and the 

 Pape, whom they exterminated. But I transcribe 

 the words of the Diploma : 



" Hasc terra sive insularum patria Orcadie fuit in- 

 habitata et culta, duabus nacionibus scilicet Peti et 

 Pape, que due genera naciones fuerant destructe radi- 

 citus, ac penitus per Norwegenses de stirpe sive de 

 tribu strenuissimi principis Rognaldi, qui sic sunt 

 ipsias naciones a.;gressi, quod posteritas ipsarum nacio- 

 num Peti et Pape non remansit." 



Though Chalmers (^Caledonia, vol. i. p. 261.) 13 

 rather inclined to discredit the above account, it 

 seems probable that those Pape were missionaries 

 or priests, who were also found, under precisely 

 the same name, in Iceland when that island was 

 colonised by the Norsemen (Pinkerton's Enquiry^ 

 vol. ii. p. 297.). I have not my copy of Depping 

 at present by me, and therefore am unable to say 

 whether he explains his use of the word Christians 

 in his mention of their expulsion. It may be that, 

 without going into detail, he accepted, as proved, 

 the identity of the Pape and the priests, and be- 

 lieved himself warranted in making the assertion. 

 But perhaps be might have had some other 



