April 21. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



309 



on tlie subject ; Nisbett (1722) being the first I 

 notice, who says that dancette should never consist 

 of fewer than three teeth, giving Holmes as 'his 

 authority. He states that the French say for in- 

 dented, danche or dentille, and for daunzette vivre, 

 which Menestrier takes for the letter M, when the 

 legs of it are extended from side to side of the 

 shield, because many who carried a partition or 

 fess after that fashion, their names begin with the 

 letter M ! 



In addition to the families mentioned by 

 Y. S. M., there occur to me the following ; Par- 

 kins (granted in the reign of Elizabeth), Thomp- 

 son, Lord Haversham, and one of the quarterings 

 of Cavendish (Keighley). Many others could be 

 found by a little search. 



It seems, therefore, that both these partition 

 lines have been known and used for a very long 

 period, and it would not be difficult to form a con- 

 jecture as to the occasion on which each may have 

 been granted. Bboctdna. 



fBury, Lancashire. 



There are several instances of the daunse (i.e. 

 the /esse dancettee) in the Rolls of Arms pvhWshed 

 by Sir N. H. Nicolas ; and Guillim, in his Display 

 of Heraldry, edit. 1638, p. 77., blazons the arms 

 of Sir Thomas Vavasour as — Or, a fesse dauncette 

 sable. The indentures in the engraving are pre- 

 cisely the same as a modern herald -would depict 

 them. 



Gerard Leigh, at fo. 136. of his book, gives a 

 coat w'hich he blazons — Ermine, and ermines 

 parted per fesse indented, but the cut represents 

 it as per fesse dancettee. Upton says, — 



" Sunt insuper alii qui habent Arraa barrata tortuosa 

 acuta. Et Gallice sic describuntur : II port d'argent et 

 aahill daunsete." 



De Bara gives a drawing of a coat in which a 

 fesse indented occurs, but he calls it a fesse 

 " danchee ou engrelee " {Blason des Armoiries, 

 p. 31.). Thompson CooFEB. 



Cambridge. 



The statement of Edmondson, cited in the 

 Glossary of Heraldry, refers not to the dancettee 

 line, but to that called dovetail. Y. S. M. is 

 therefore mistaken in the assertion which is the 

 basis of his Query. The Glossary was, in the 

 main, but not exclusively, the production of the 

 individual mentioned by the editor- H. G. 



THE GEAND MASTER OF THE ORDER OF MALTA. 



(Vol. xi., p. 178.) 

 The present is a fitting opportunity, by a far- 

 ther ventilation of the subject so ably handled by 



W. W., of removing much uncertainty that pre- 

 vails with respect to the head-quartera and head 

 officers of this illustrious order. The Glossary of 

 Heraldry, edit. 1847, states, that after the capture 

 of the island by Buonaparte in 1798, " on the 

 24th November, 1798, Paul, Emperor of Russia, 

 was elected Grand Master. Since his death, in 

 1801, the office has not been filled, an officer de- 

 nominated ' Lieutenant of the Grand Master' 

 having been substituted " (p. 188.). The Rev. S. 

 Fox, in his Monks and Monasteries, edit. 1846, 

 states that the chief or grand commander of the 

 Order still resides at Malta (p. 323.). W. W. in- 

 forms us ("N. & Q.," Vol. xi., p. 235.) that the late 

 Emperor of Russia, Nicholas, when four years old, 

 was named a Grand Prior of Russia, and per- 

 mitted to wear the Grand Cross of the Order; 

 and that the imperial almanac of 1800 published 

 the names of those holding rank in the Order, and 

 amongst others of two English ladies who were 

 "Dames de la petite Croix." Haydn says that 

 "the Emperor Paul of Russia declared himself 

 Grand Master of the Order in June, 1799." {Diet, 

 of Dates, p. 387.) I am not acquainted with the 

 particulars of this election of Paul in 1798 ; but 

 believe the Emperor of Russia to be as mucb the 

 head of the Order as he is master of Constan- 

 tinople. The rule of the Order was in the first 

 instance submitted to the Sovereign Pontiff", and 

 the Order itself was by a bull of Paschall II., 

 A. D. 1113, put under the protection of the Roman 

 See. So jealous were the knights of their attach- 

 ment to the holy see, that when those of the 

 English " language " were called upon to take the 

 oath of supremacy to Queen Elizabeth in 1559, 

 they chose rather to surrender all their posses- 

 sions. Hence there can be no doubt that the 

 election of the Russian emperor was not according 

 to the forms of, or acknowledged by, the Order. 



Where, then, are we to look for the Grand 

 Master ? On the loss of Malta, a majority of the 

 Knights retired to Trieste, and subsequently to 

 Messina and Catania. Their chief settlement is 

 now at Ferrara, in the Papal States, l^he history 

 of the Order ends its military phase with the sur- 

 render of Malta in 1798. Its wealth and power 

 then passed away ; but it has been elastic enough 

 to survive the rude shock, and in its religious 

 character it still exists. At Ferrara, in com- 

 parative poverty and obscurity, the Grand Master 

 and a few knights keep alive its name and cha- 

 racter. 



Shorn of its colossal dimensions and political 

 importance, we meet with the Order in the Eternal 

 City. There, if in name only Knights of Rhodes 

 and Knights of Malta, they are in reality •" Hos- 

 pitallers." Originally, when a member was ad- 

 mitted into the Order, the brother admitting him 

 used the words — " We recognise thee as a servant 

 of our masters the infirm poor, and as dedicated 



