ADDITIONAL NOTES.]

ORDER OF THE GARTER.

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P. 322. King George the Fourth. —The Order of Charles the Third was presented to HisMajesty when Prince Regent, on the 28th of June 1814; that of Wilhelm on the 4th of December1818; and the Orders of Saint Januarius and Saint Ferdinand of Merit, on the 20th of April 1816.London Gazettes.

P. 334. The Garter. —In the account of the Garter, Shakespeare’s beautiful descriptionought not to be omitted :

“ About, about;

Search Windsor Castle, elves, within and out:

Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room ;

That it may stand till the perpetual doom,

In state as wholesome, as in state ’tis fit;

Worthy the owner, and the owner it.

The several chairs of Order look you scourWith juice of balm, and every precious flower:

Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest,

With loyal blazon, evermore be blest!

And nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you sing,

Like to the Garter’s compass, in a ring :

The expressure that it bears, green let it be,

More fertile-fresh than all the field to see;

And, Hony soit qui mal y pense, write,

In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and white;

Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,

Buckled below fair Knight-hood’s bending knee :

Fairies use flowers for their charactery. ”

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

Buck, in his Crowns and Garlands (8vo. 1603, stanza 29), thus describes the Garter :

“ A noble Pledge of Princely grace it is ;

Happy are they, which therewith gird their knee.”

P. 334. Anno 1840.—Among the Plate at Saint James’ Palace, at the Banquet on the day ofHer Majesty’s Marriage, the 10th of February 1840, was a very large Tankard, in which was“ inserted a great number of Medals struck in Holland, during the time of the Commonwealth, inhonour of the Knights of the Garter. A Medallion of Charles the Second is placed in the centre; thehandle is formed of the figure of a Dragon, and on the top is a large Crown, adorned with preciousstones, the cushion of which is formed of a single amethyst of large size.”

P. 352—354. The Collar. —It should have been stated, that according to Ashmole, p. 221,“ The number of these Garters [in the Collar] are so many, as be the ordained number of the Sovereignand Knights-Companions, by the Institution of the Order, viz. Twenty Six ; being tied together withas many Knots of gold: and this fashion hath in all particulars hitherto continued invariable.” Healso says, p. 233, that “At a Chapter held the 22nd of May 1622, it was ordained, 'that such KnightsCompanions of this Most Noble Order, as should afterwards assist at the Funeral of any KnightCompanion, should wear the Collar apert, at the said Funeral;’ and it was so observed by the Dukesof Ormond and Richmond, the Earls of Manchester and Sandwich, at the solemn Funeral of HisGrace George late Duke of Albemarle.”