Feb. 14. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



147 



second marriage of the earl in question, while, on 

 the contrary, he gives many probabilities against it. 

 Thomas (moyle, or bald), twelfth earl, succeeded 

 to his nephew James, the eleventh earl, in 1529, 

 being then in extreme age, and died in five years 

 after ; he was the second brother of James, ninth 

 earl, murdered in 1587 — whose widow I affirm 

 the old Countess to have been. Let us not lose 

 sight of the fact, that the "old Countess," by 

 general consent, was married in the reign of 

 Edward IV., who died 1483. And I would ask, 

 what pi-obability is there that a younger brother 

 would be already married to a second wife, in the 

 lifetime of his elder brother, who is described as 

 murdered " while flourishing in wealth and power 

 «t the age of twenty-nine years?" The suppo- 

 sition carries improbability on the face of it; none 

 of the genealogies mention this second marriage at 

 all ; and Dr. Smith, whose county histories I have 

 had particular occasion to examine, was, though a 

 diligent collector oi reports, no antiquarian autho- 

 rity to rely on. Above all, it is to be remembered, 

 that Sir Walter Raleigh calls her " The old Coun- 

 tess of Desmond of lucvLEOMni:" this is in itself 

 proof, all but positive, that the lady was an 

 O'Bryen, for none other could have " part or lot " 

 in the hereditary designation of that family : hence 

 I have no hesitation in adhering to the conclusion, 

 which, with slight correction of dates, I have 

 adopted from accurate authorities, that " Mak- 

 GKET O'Brien, wife of James, ninth Eael of 

 Desmond, who was murdered in 1587, was the 



•GENUINE AND ONLY ' OlD CoUNTESS.'" Upon the 



only point on which I venture to correct my 

 authority, namely, as to the date of the earl's 

 <leath, I find, on reference to an older authority 

 than any to which we have hitherto referred, that 

 my emendation is confirmed. In the Annals of the 

 Four Masters, compiled from more ancient docu- 

 ments still, in the year 1636, I find, under the 

 date 1487, the following : " The Earl of Desmond, 

 James Fitzgerald, was treacherously killed by his 

 own people at Ratligeola (Rathkeale, co. Limerick), 

 at the instigation of his brother John." A. B. R. 

 Belmont. 



THE IMPERIAL EAGLE OF FRANCE. 



On reading the Times of the 7th ult. at our city 

 library, in which the following translation of a 

 paragraph in the French journal, Le Constituiionnel, 

 appeared, application was made to me for an ex- 

 planation of that part where the Emperor Na- 

 poleon is represented as stating, among other 

 advantages of preferring an eagle to a cock as 

 the national emblem or ensign, which, during the 

 ancient dynasty of France, the latter had been — 

 " that it owes its origin to a pun. I will not have 

 the cock, said the Emperor; it lives on the dunghill, 

 and allows itself to have its throat twisted by the fox. 



I will take the eagle, which bears the thunderbolt, and 

 which can gaze on the sun. The French eagles shall 

 make themselves respected, like the Roman eagles. 

 The cock, besides, has the disadvantage of owing its 

 origin to a pun," &c. 



Premising that the French journalist's object is 

 to authorise the present ruler of France's similar 

 adoption and restoration of the noble bird on the 

 French standard by the example of his uncle, I 

 briefly stated the circumstance to which Napoleon, 

 on this occasion, referred ; and as not unsuited, I 

 should think, to your miscellany, I beg leave to 

 repeat it here. 



In 1545, during the sitting of the Council of 

 Trent, Peter Danes, one of the most eminent ec- 

 clesiastics of France, who had been professor of 

 Greek, and filled several other consonant stations, 

 appeared at the memorable council as one of the 

 French representatives. While there, his col- 

 league, Nicholas Pseaume, Bishop of Verdun, in 

 a vehement oration, denounced the relaxed dis- 

 cipline of the Italians, when Sebastian Vancius 

 de Arimino (so named in the " Canones et De- 

 creta" of the Council), Bishop of Orvietto (Urbe- 

 vetanus), sneeringly exclaimed " Gallus cantat," 

 dwelling on the double sense of the word Gallus — 

 a Frenchman or a cock, and intending to ex- 

 press "the cock crows;" to which Danes promptly 

 and pointedly responded, " Utinam et Galli cantum 

 Peti'us resipisceret," which excited, as it deserved, 

 the general applause of the assembly, thus turning 

 the insult into a triumph. The apt allusion will 

 be made clear by a reference to the words of the 

 Gospels : St. Matthew, xxvi. 75. ; St. Mark, xiv. 

 68. 72. ; St. Luke, xxii. 61-2. ; and St. John, xviii. 

 27., where the a\eKTopoipuvia of the original is the 

 "cantus galli" of the Vulgate, and where Petrus 

 represents the pope, who is aroused to resipiscere 

 by the example of his predecessor St. Peter. 



This incident in the memorable assembly is ad- 

 verted to in the French contemporary letters and 

 memoirs, but tnore particularly in the subsequent 

 publication of a learned member of Danes's family. 

 La Vie, Eloges et Opuscules de Pierre Danes, par 

 P. Hilaire Danes, Paris, 1731, 4to., with the 

 portrait of the Tridentine deputy, who became 

 Bishop of Lavaur, in Languedoc (now departe- 

 ment du Saone), and preceptor to Francis, the 

 short-lived husband of Mary Stuart, before that 

 prince's ascent to the throne. So high altogether 

 was he held in public estimation, that he was 

 supposed well entitled to the laudatory anagram 

 formed of his name (Petrus Danesius), " De 

 superis natus." 



In the Council of Trent there only appeared 

 two Englishmen, Cardinal Pole and Francis Gad- 

 well *, Bishop of St. Asaph, with three Irish prelates, 

 (1) Thomas Herliky, Bishop of Ross, called 



[* Query, Thomas Goldwell.] 



