470
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[9 th S. I. JUNK 11,
" In June, 1777, the American Congress resolved :
' That the flag of the thirteen United States be
thirteen stripes, alternately red and white; that
the "union" (i.e., the upper quarter of the flag
nearest to the staff) be thirteen stars white in a
blue field.' This resolution was officially pro-
mulgated on 3 Sept., 1777. In 1794, on 13 Jan.,
Congress enacted that the number alike of stars
and of stripes should be raised to fifteen, in order
to include the two new States of Kentucky and
Vermont. The flag thus modified was the American
ensign up to the year 1818. On 4 April of that year
it was determined to revert to the original number
of stripes (i. e. , thirteen), and it was agreed that these
should remain constant, but that whenever a new
State was admitted a silver star should be added to
the group in the ' union,' on 4 July next after such
admission. In the Mexican campaign the stars
numbered twenty-nine; in the Civil War thirty-
five; they are now (1896) forty-five in number."
From the representation of the arms before alluded to it will be noticed that whilst the escutcheon, as borne at the present day, shows on its chief a star for each State now composing the Union (presumably, forty -five as in the flag), yet the number of stars in the somewhat complicated crest is restricted to the number forming the original States at the time Congress authorized the assumption of the arms (i. e., thirteen).
Further, it seems to me that the object grasped in the dexter talon of the eagle is not the " laurel wreath proper," as given by Dr. Woodward (p. 287) as "the ordinary man- ner in which the arms are now depicted," but, unless I am very much mistaken, the " olive branch " as there stated by him to have been authorized by the Act of Congress.
This, indeed, would accord more with ME. NEILSON'S description of the arms on the table-napkin : " The bird of freedom clutches in its dexter claw an olive branch and in its sinister a thunderbolt,* just as it does offi- cially at this day." May not Dr. Woodward be in error in describing it as a "laurel wreath "?
There is one other point which I should like to mention, which is rather more technical. In the official description of the American arms the "field" is mentioned as Paleways of thirteen pieces argent and gules, though, as Dr. Woodward says, that has been changed (contrary to the usual heraldic custom of placing the metal first) and the " paly field now commences with a stripe of gules."
But is it, heraldically speaking, correct to call the field " paleways " or " paly "? I have always been taught to believe that " paly " betokened, in common with "barry" or " bendy," the division of the field into an even
Query, three silver arrows '(
number of pieces. Would not the more
correct description of the present American
arms be : Gules, six pallets argent, &c. 1
America may be a new country, perhaps more especially so from an heraldic point of view, but I can hardly imagine that she has " broken another record " and that this can be an isolated case.
I shall be glad if any of your heraldic readers can refer me to any other authorized instance or can give me any authority for such, to me, unusual manner of blazoning.
J. S. UDAL.
Fiji.
KOTTEN Row, NOTTINGHAM (8 th S. xii. 347; 9 th S. i. 217, 314, 372). I think I have dis- covered the meaning of this very common street-name. I have little doubt that it means " ruinous street."
In reading old surveys one very frequently meets with accounts of ruined houses, of tofts which are built on, and of other tofts where the houses are in ruins. The ' Black Book of Hexham'* contains many such accounts. Thus (p. 18) we are told of "partem de Wardhog-hall cum to/to cedificatoei crofto." On p. 13 we have: "Tenent etiam situm rectoriae, et omnino est vastum" In such surveys one meets again and again with such descriptions as " cotagia vasta " and " cotagia sedificata." Houses built of wood and plaster, or of mud, would easily fall into decay.
Whole streets as well as single houses fell into decay, and then they occasionally be- came the subject of statutory enactments. Thus the statute 27 Henry VIII. c. 1, has the following preamble :
"Forasmuch as diuers & many houses mesuages & tenementes of habitacions in the townes of Notingham, Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Bridgenorth, Quinborow, Northampton, & Gloucester, now are & of long time haue been in great ruine and decay, and specyally in the princypall and chiefe stretes there being, in the which chiefe stretes in tymes passed haue been beautyfull dwelling howses, then well inhabited, whiche at this day much parte thereof is desolate, and voyde grounds, with pyttes, sellers, and vaultes, lyeing open and vncouered, verye peryllous for people to go by in the nyght, without leopardy of lyfe : whiche decayes are to the great impouerishing & hynderance of the same townes. For the remedy wherof, it may," &c.f
About 1479 the 'Black Book of Hexham' mentions an acre lying "in campo de Baton- raw, ex parte oriental! le lonyng ibidem, et vocatur le Cros-acre" (p. 24). This was in the town of Hayden, now, I suppose, Ayclon, where the castle is. So it seems that in Hay-
- In Raine's ' Hexham Priory,' ii. 1, et seq.
t Rastell's ' Statutes,' 1557, I 439b.
