abthttonal J3otes
The opinion of Hume respecting the origin of the Order of the Garter ought to have been quotedin page 19, in support of the suggestion in the text. Dr. Lingard does not appear to consider theFoundation of the Order deserving of the slightest notice, as it is not even mentioned in hisvaluable History.
“ The prudent conduct and great success of Edward in his Foreign wars had excited a strongemulation and a military genius among the English Nobility; and these turbulent Barons, overawedby the Crown, gave now a more useful direction to their ambition, and attached themselves to a Princewho led them to the acquisition of riches and of glory. That he might farther promote the spirit ofemulation and obedience, the King instituted the Order of the Garter, in imitation of some Ordersof a like nature, religious as well as military, which had been established in different parts of Europe.The number received into this Order consisted of Twenty-Five persons, besides the Sovereign; and asit has never been ertlarged, this Badge of Distinction continues as honourable as at its first Institution,and is still a valuable, though a cheap present, which the Prince can confer on his greatest subjects.A vulgar story prevails, but is not supported by any ancient authority, that at a Court-ball, Edward’sMistress, commonly supposed to be the Countess of Salisbury, dropped her Garter; and the King,taking it up, observed some of the Courtiers to smile, as if they thought that he had not obtainedthis favour merely by accident: upon which he called out, Honi soit qui mal y pense —Evil to himthat evil thinks; and as every incident of gallantry among those ancient warriors was magnified intoa matter of great importance, he instituted the Order of the Garter in memorial of this event, andgave these words as the Motto of the Order. This origin, though frivolous, is not unsuitable to themanners of the times; and it is indeed difficult by any other means to account, either for the seeminglyunmeaning terms of the Motto, or for the peculiar Badge of the Garter, which seems to have noreference to any purpose either of military use or ornament.” * 2
King Richard the Second, pp. 39, 43, 44.—'The Election of this Monarch into the Order,while Prince of Wales, seems to be fixed to Saint George’s Day 1377, being the Anniversary nextafter the death of his father, the Black Prince, by the following passage in Thomas of Walsingham’s“ Ypodigma Neustriae,” p. 136: “Rex Edwardus in festo S. Georgij apud Windeleshores contulitRichardo de Burdegal hseredi suo Ordinem Militarem.”
forthe by Wylliam Teshe of the Citye of Yorke, Gentleman, 1580.” It is dedicated to the Queen, and he begsthat She will deign to accept it “ among the noble presents of more higher estate.” In York Cathedral there isthis inscription, apparently to his father and mother: “ Of your charity pray for the soul of Margarett Tesh, wifeunto Mr. Tristram Tesh, of the cittye of Yorke, Notarie and principal Register of the Archibishoprick of Yorke,which Margarett departed unto the mercy of Allmighty God the viiij. day of December An. Dom. 1537.”—Drake’s “ History of York,” p. 495.
2 Ed. 1786, vol. II. cap. xvi. p. 447.