Fig. 196.
On the Royal Banner, or, as it is commonly though erroneously styled, the Standard (Fig. 196), are displayed the arms of the United Kingdom; and on the Ensign, or Union Jack, the emblematical crosses of England, Scotland, and Ireland, blazoned as follows:—Az.; the saltires of St. Patrick and St. Andrew, quaterly per saltire, countercharged ar. and gu.; the latter fimbriated of the second; surmounted by the cross of St. George, of the third, fimbriated as the last.
It is a curious fact, illustrating the amount of heraldic knowledge possessed by the designers of the bronze currency, that the shield on which the hand of Britannia rests is incorrectly blazoned. The ensign is there made to appear as a single saltire, surmounted by a cross, and both fimbriated.
In the case of the Exhibition medal of 1862, the inaccuracy is still more flagrant, The Union is there typified by a plain saltire, surmounted by a fimbriated cross.
THE DEGREES OF THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY.
The highest rank in the British Peerage, immediately following Princes and Princesses of the Royal Blood, is that of the Archbishops of Canterbury, York, Armagh, and Dublin.[1]
The next in order are Dukes. The eldest son of a
- ↑ The wife of an Archbishop or Bishop derives no title from her husband’s rank, and, unless she be a peeress in her own right, is simply addressed as Mrs.
