246 
par M. Borel Hauterive, années 1843—44 (Paris, 
au Bureau de la Revue Historique de la Noblesse, 
Rue Bleue, 28.), gives the following summary of 
the facts connected with the history of the fleur- 
de-lis. It corresponds generally withthe account 
here extracted from the volumes of Pere Anselme 
and Montfaucon : 
“ Depuis le régne de Louis le Jeune, jusqu’a celui de 
Charles le Sage (V.) nos rois ont porté un ecu d’azur 
semé de fleurs-de-lis d’or sans nombre. Charles VI., ou, 
selon quelques historiens, son prédecesseur, reduisit a 
trois les fleurs-de-lis qui chargeaient les armes de France” 
(vol. ii. p. 2.). 
This interesting and instructive work supplies, 
besides a “ traité de blason,” and the genealogy 
of the royal houses and nobility of France, a com- 
plete “ Revue des Galleries des Croisades” at Ver- 
sailles, and lists of the nobility in the chronolo- 
gical order of their creation under the Bourbons, 
the Empire, the Restoration, the Orleans dynasty, 
and the Second Empire. I have yet to learn to 
what date this publication was continued. 
It is not my purpose to pursue this subject in 
relation to France, beyond the point to which it 
has now been brought, though it might be inter- 
esting to ascertain how far these distinctive em- 
blems of royalty were in that country conceded to 
individuals of a lower rank ; and on what ground 
these honourable ensigns were, if ever, assumed 
beyond the sphere of royal alliance or concession. 
My immediate inquiry leads to the introduction 
of the fleur-de-lis as an armorial charge in Eng- 
land, and to its wide and apparently uncontrolled 
usage in the shields of so many of the aristocracy 
of this country, He-P. 
TUE “SILLY GOOSE”—ITS COURAGE, FAITHFUL- 
NESS, AND LONGEVITY. 
As a fair portion of the pages of “ N. & Q.” is 
usually devoted to your correspondents’ Queries, 
I presume a corner will not be denied to answers. 
Tt is, I believe, generally admitted, that, of the 
feathered family, none attain to a greater age than 
the eagle, the swan, and the goose. This last- 
mentioned bird, so often perverted to a contemp- 
tuous application, is, nevertheless, noted for its 
instinct and affection, and will not unfrequently 
exhibit proofs of peculiar attachment to man and 
the lower animals. 
Instances are also recorded of its longevity. 
The goose (Anser Domesticus) has been known, 
like the eagle (whose precarious and brigandish 
mode of subsistence renders such duration re- 
markable), to live seventy, eighty, and even a 
hundred years. Perhaps some of your naturalist 
readers may be able to confirm this statement. I 
recollect reading (but I cannot now quote my 
authority) of a goose, which fell a martyr to pa- 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[2nd §, No 13, Mar. 29, 956. 
rental solicitude at eighty! The bird was dis- 
turbed, while sitting on her eggs, by a sow, prying 
rudely into the mysteries of incubation ; and suf- 
fered herself to be despatched by the monster, 
rather than resign her seat, though giving promise, 
even at that advanced age, of additional years of 
conjugal happiness, and her owners the full fruit 
thereof. Silly goose! This bird “once on its 
mettle,” is capable of high and chivalrous acts, 
and will occasionally perform great feats of valour 
in the face of an enemy. Ganders in the Russian 
capital are subjected to a regular course of training, 
like our game cocks, for the goose-pit ; which thus 
becomes a frequent source of amusement to the 
Petersburghians, and as frequent a scene of fierce 
and sanguinary encounters. The vigilance of the 
goose may be almost said to be a matter of his- 
tory. It was to a goose “challenge,” at a mo- 
ment when a starving garrison were on the eve of 
a night “surprise,” and worn-out sentries slum- 
bered on their “ watch,” that the capital owed its 
preservation, and a gallant patrician his costly 
gifts of corn and wine*, the reward of his heroism 
(Query, a case of anseres contra gallos !). 
As regards the annual marketable value of 
the goose (and its progeny), I believe I am not 
far wrong in saying, that it is computed at little 
less than that of the common ewe. Where a 
systematic profit is made on the produce of this 
bird, and the feathers are periodically plucked, or 
sheared, the yield has been estimated at double 
the value of the sheep — 
“ Sie vos, non vobis plumigeretis, aves?” 
“ Silly goose!” F. Pai.ort. 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF MACAULAY, 
Traditionary Account of William's Landing. — 
The following is taken from a little provincially 
printed book in my possession, entitled Miscella- 
neous Observations in the Course of Two Tours in 
the West of England, §c., by M. Dunsford, 
Merch', 12mo., 1800: 
“ Walking alone on the quay (at Brixham), I met in- 
cidentally a well drest elderly man, who, suspecting the 
cause of my contemplation, desired me to walk with him 
to the stone steps that led down from the quay to the 
edge of the water. ‘I called you to this spot, Sir,’ says 
he, ‘ to show you the place where King William landed, 
and to give you the traditionary account here of this 
remarkable occurrence. J am seventy years old, and had 
the tradition from my grandmother, who died many years 
since at a great age, She was sixteen when the Prince 
of Orange’s Fleet came into Torbay, and the boats of the 
fleet into the harbour, with the prince and his body- 
guards, to land more conveniently. The people were 
frightened at first, but in a little time recovered their 
* M. Manlius received, from every man of the citadel, 
half a pound of corn and a quarter of a flask of wine; and 
this after a six months’ blockade, 
