350 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Nov. 3. 1855. 



earlier than either the Egyptians or the earliest 

 inhabitants of Brittany. 



The authority for callin<j such stone temples 

 Druidical, he will find in Tolnnd's Historj/ of the 

 Druids, with Huddlestone's Notes ; in Higgins's 

 Cdtic Druids, and various other works on the 

 same subject, which will be found referred to in 

 these worlfs. 



OvTis mistnkes in stating, that " Caesar notices 

 the origin of Druidism." Caesar states the exist- 

 ence of Druidism ; and Divitianes, chief Druid in 

 Gaul, was his ally and friend. 



The representation of the form of a serpent does 

 not infer serpent worship. The serpent was con- 

 sidered a symbol of the Deity and ot eternity. 



It seems to he a mistake to suppose that the 

 Druids derived their name from the Greek word 

 hpvs. Its origin is in a more ancient and eastern 

 lanojuage — the Celtic. J. S. s. 



THE IIAKP. 



(^Concluded from p. 330.) 



" Kin» Henry VTIL, in his thirty-third year, having 

 taken upon himself the style and title of King of Ireland, 

 inserted the same upon his money and his Great Seal ; 

 yet we have only as before the harp upon the coin of 

 Ireland, but nothing upon the Great Seal relating thereto, 

 only a collar about his neck composed of the initial letter 

 H, perhaps for Ilibernia, and intended to commemorate 

 this remarknble occurrence, though it is usually thought 

 to be intended for the initial letter of his name. How- 

 ever that be, this is a proof there were no arms appro- 

 priate to Ireland at that time, nor was there any standard 

 or banner of the harp for Ireland carried at the funeral 

 of this king; but at the funeral of Queen Jane, 

 29 Hen. VIII., was carried a banner of Ireland (1. 14. and 

 elsewhere in Off. Arms.). 



" King Kdward VI., in 1552, erected a new king of arms 

 for Ireland, by the title of Ulnester*, King of Arms of 

 the whole kingdom of Ireland, and the badge and seal of 

 this office was distinguished from that of the other kings 

 of arms chiefly by the addition of a harp ; but King Ed- 

 ward had neither arms nor device for Ireland upon his 

 Great Seal or otherwise, nor do we meet with any Irish 

 money of this king; nor is there an}' arms or device for 

 Ireland upon the Great Seal of Philip and Mary, but 



• Ulster was erected into an earldom temp. Hen. II. 

 John Gurcy was the iirst who had the title of Earl of 

 Ulster, afterwards Hugh de Lacy, then Walter de Burgo, 

 and William de Burgh, leaving only one daughter and 

 heir, Elizabeth. Upon the petition of the Irish (Sand- 

 ford), 15 Ed. III., she was married to Lionel Duke of 

 Clarence, the king's third son, who, in right of his wife, 

 was, 29 Ed. HI., created Earl of Ulster, from whence by 

 a daughter it came to Mortimer, Earl of March, from 

 whence it came to the house of York, and b\' King Ed- 

 ward IV. was annexed to the crown, and upon this 

 account as the principal province gave title to the king 

 of arms, though methinks as all Ireland was at this time 

 wholly in subjection, the old title of Ireland king of arms 

 had been more honourable, and that of Ulster as a pro- 

 vince more proper for the title of a herald. 

 No. 314.] 



upon their Irish coins the harp crowned, as upon those of 

 Henry VIH. 



" Queen Elizabeth had no arms for Ireland upon her 

 Great Seal, but upon the counter seal are the badges of 

 the three kingdoms, n.iinely, the rose crowned for Eng- 

 land, the thistle crowned for Scotland, and the harp- 

 crowned for Ireland, as upon her money, except her 

 harpers, or Irish shillings and sixpences, bearing the 

 date 1561. On these, in an escocheon crowned, are three 

 harps, two and one, the first instance of the harp or harps 

 used in an e.scocheon as arms for the kingdom of Ireland; 

 probably these three harps might be intended to represent 

 the three provinces or governments there, viz. Leinster, 

 where the Lord Deputy immediately presided ; Connaught, 

 which had a governor called Commissioner ; and Munster, 

 a gov^ernor called President; which three governors were 

 continued in that kingdom until 1671, when the Presi- 

 dencies of Munster and Connaught were superseded ; but 

 the money coined after this in 1601 had only the harp 

 crowned as before. Why the three harps were not con- 

 tinued does not appear; it may be that having, as the 

 inscription upon her monument declares, ' Ireland, with 

 Spaniards' expulsion and traitors' coercion,' quieted, she 

 thought o!ie harp the most proper insignia, as formerly 

 used, and so it is in two places upon her monument, but 

 with some difference upon the base of the monument, the 

 harp in an escocheon crowned, and upon the Cornish an 

 escocheon charged with a harp crowned.* 



" King James not only used the harp crowned as the 

 device of Ireland, but quartered the harp in his royal 

 achievement for the arms of that kingdom, in the third 

 quarter of the royal achievement upon his Great Seal, as 

 it has continued ever since. The blazon was azure, a 

 harp or stringed argent, as appears by the great em- 

 broidered banner, and at the funeral of Queen Anne, 

 King James's queen, ad. 1018, and likewise by the great 

 banner and banner of Ireland at the funeral of King 

 James (I. 4. ff. 5. & SI in Off. Arms). The difference 

 between the arms and device of Ireland appears to be on 

 tbe crown onh', which is added to the harp when used as 

 a device. 



" .\t the funeral of King James was likewise carried the 

 standard of the crest of Ireland, a buck proper fargent in 

 the draught) issuing from a tower triple towered or, 

 which is the onlv instance of this crest that I have met 

 with, and therefore was probabh'- devised and assigned 

 for the crest of Ireland upon occasion of this funeral, but 

 with what propriety I do not understand. 



" As to the badge, besides the two crosses of St. George 

 and St, Andrew, and the usual ones of the rose, thistle, 

 fleur-de-lis, and harp, crowned for the four kingdoms^ 

 there were carried at his funeral the standard of the crest 

 of Ireland, of the crest of Scotland, of the unicorn, of the 

 crest of England, of the greyhound, the dragon, of the 

 Union, viz.'St. Georsre and St. Andrew, crosses conjoined. 

 The rose and thistle conjoined, and the cornet of St. 

 George." 



THE RUNNING THURSDAY. 



(Vol. xii., p. 326.) 

 Is it not possible that this term was applied in 

 derision either to the date of the king's flight, or 

 that of the numerous courtiers who seceded from 



* At her funeral was borne the banner of Ireland, 

 azure, a harp crowned with a ducal coronet or, stringed 

 argent. 



