Divon Notes and Queries, 157 warrant delineation. (5) The scene of the alleged miracle being St. Margaret's, it follows, if the seal conveys it, it must be the scene of the device likewise. (6) The harmonious disposition of the figures, and, saving the flower, their apparent dependency, (7) The indisputable pregnancy of the female figure, the pivot of the l^end and keystone of the device. (8) The reasonable inference that the hand was designed out of proportion, and so placed to distinguish the relative position of Godhead and creature. (9) The beatifying pose of the fingers. (10) In ancient times the intercession of saints being common, the supposition that St. Margaret would have been invoked is a &ur one ; moreover, the fingers point in her direction, and (11) The erasure of the half-figure was intended to impart a spiritual aspect. Thus, while other expedients fail to afibrd an event rigor- ously or vaguely accordant, local tradition, although irrational, conducts us to an incident every detail of which is uncon- ditionally harmonious. Can any ambiguity exist that the
- honi " theory of etymology is what the designer intended to
represent ? By reason of the entire paucity of practical solutions, and the persistence of this hypothetical conjunction, we must incline to the conviction that from tradition "the mystic fabric sprung," and that the device the seal displays is no other than the notion it suggests. In view of the palpable allusion the honeysuckle bears to the name of the Borough, in all likelihood the fiower on the seal was designed as such, but the exact sense in which it was employed must be discriminated. That it possesses no afl&nity with the " honey " etymology is clear, otherwise the seal would transmit two distinct and con- tradictory derivations. It is simply an emblem. The designer, in looking for a suggestive figure, alighted, and naturally, on a flower the cognomen of which was insinuative of that of the locality. Its early fame for the product of honey may have influenced the selection, but the honey root assuredly did not. However interesting it may be from an archaeological stand- point, there cannot be much doubt that the seal was based on a fianiastic story, conveys a fable, and, moreover, perpetuates a false etymology. J. Galb Pedrick. ii8. Tracy and Brewer (II, p. 63, par. 41.) — Sir William de Tracy, one of the murderers of Thomas k Becket, lived at Woollacombe Tracy in the parish of Morthoe, near Ilfracombe,
