214 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2-* s. vi. ui.. Sept. ii. 



'58. 



The natural result would be that the '■'■old 

 sovg," which, if not absolutely heterodox, was 

 vicious, and tended to schism, fell iuto disuse, 

 and became valueless. May not this be one reason 

 why " an old song " came to express the purchase- 

 price of anything that was bought dog-cheap? 



There was, however, in former days one kind of 

 bargain, into which " songs " actually entered, and 

 that on a very extended scale of transaction. We 

 still speak of singing mass ; and to the service of 

 the mass the term '^song" was particularly ap- 

 plied. When, therefore, an individual bequeathed 

 a property to secure masses for his soul, instead 

 of leaving it to his expectant heirs, qu., might not 

 the baulked expectant resentfully exclaim, that 

 the property had been " sold /or a song?" 



In these suggestions there is nothing which 

 clashes with the idea thrown out by J. Y., as to our 

 forefathers preferring new songs to old. Of such 

 a preference we get an inkling in The Winters 

 Tale, Act IV. Sc. 3., where the question is about 

 ballad-selling : — 



" il/op. Is it true, think you " [the ballad] ? 

 " Autof. Very true ; and Imt a month old." 



Much farther liglit might be thrown on the 

 question of the " old song," but I have already 

 trespassed too far. Thomas Bots. 



THE PRENCH TRICOLOR. 



(2"'' S. vi. 164. 198.) 



A. A. having expressed a doubt as to the 

 national flag being always the arms of tlie reigning 

 dynasty, induces me to offer a few observations^ 

 which seem to bear upon the subject, at the same 

 time hoping that it may lead some of your cor- 

 respondents to further investigations. In the first 

 instance, let us look into the word etymologically : 

 the correct French word for flag is Pavilion. 

 This is remarkable as being the word for the uni- 

 versal symbol of royalty, whether we turn to the 

 remote period of Nineveh, or to the distant re- 

 gion of Siam. It is the vexillum supremum of 

 the Heralds. On turning to the German, we there 

 find Fuhne, Fan, is the word for flag; here is 

 another universal symbol of royalty. This also 

 is held over the Assyrian monarchs. It was borne 

 on each side of the Emperor of Delhi. The fan 

 still forms with the umbrella a most conspicuous 

 part of the Pope's pageant, and we may also see 

 it, conjointly with the umbrella, in the arms pla .ed 

 in the title-page of the Illuminated MS. of the 

 Prince of Oude in the British Museum. 



Now for our own beloved flag. It is singular 

 that the old English name for the Iris or Fleur- 

 de-lys is Flag. Does the flower derive its name 

 from the standard, or vice versa ? If the former, 

 it must have received it at the time when the 

 French lilies were added to the lions. If not, it 



is difiicult to arrive at its etymology ; for one 

 would never like to associate the idea of a flagging 

 object with that of the " Flag that braved a thou- 

 sand years the battle and the breeze." I may 

 here remark that the lily seems to have been a 

 universal bearing. We read of " Shushan the 

 Palace," i. e. Persepolis, the district still retaining 

 the name of Susa, while the lily derives its most 

 interesting designation, Susiana, from the same 

 source. The lily also forms one of the most fre- 

 quent decorations of Solomon's Temple, the He- 

 brew word being the same. Some of the most 

 remarkable of the Psalms bear the title " con- 

 cerning Shushan," or " Shushannim " (i. e. the 

 lily or the lilies). 



In the Exhibition of Paintings by the Old 

 Masters at the British Gallery this year, there was 

 an interesting painting by Leonardo da Vinci in 

 which the Infant Christ was represented as stand- 

 ing between two yellow irises ; that on the sinister 

 side with the petals downwards, apparently to 

 represent the humanity or humiliation of Christ, 

 while that on the dexter side had the petals up- 

 wards, implying the divinity or glorification, the 

 combination giving the interlaced triangles.* This 

 added to what has been advanced previously ap- 

 pears to me to show the universality of the bear- 

 ings of the fleur-de-lys. W. Tell. 



Towcester. 



There is no foundation whatever for the tradi- 

 tion mentioned by your correspondent. The tri- 

 color is essentially the creation or type of popular 

 will, as contradistinguished from, or rather op- 

 posed to, the emblem of royalty. Its history is 

 both ancient and interesting. In or about the 

 year 1356, during the captivity of John of France 

 in the Tower of London, and the regency of the 

 Dauphin Charles, the States- General of Paris, at 

 the head of which was the justly celebrated 

 " Prevot des Marchands," Etienne Marcel, efl'ected 

 great changes in the mode of government. They 

 pronounced their decisions in the presence of the 

 " Bourgeois," who, at the bidding of the Prevot, 

 suspended their business, closed their shops, and 

 took up arms in support of the popular will. 

 Paris became in fact a sort of republic, and the 

 municipality governed the Estates, and in truth 

 all France. The council chamber of the Bour- 

 geois was transferred to a house on the Place de 

 Greve called " La Maison aux Piliers," the large 

 hall of which was for two centuries the theatre of 

 many most important events in the history of 

 France. At this time it was decided that the 

 city of Paris should have colours of its own, and 

 under the authority of Etienne Marcel a flag was 



* The word shushan also stands for the number G in 

 the Hebrew. This is well known to be " the perfect 

 number." The two interlaced fleur-de-lys make the lily, 

 the fleur-de-lys or iris having three predominant leaves. 



