arms as

pleting my contention that then every member of our Overseas Dominions would be represented in the royal being the direct descendant, heraldically speaking, of an English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh man, such entitled to share in our royal arms and fly the Union Jack.

or

and &S

I have had several letters from Welsh correspondents, one of whom, a Scottish F.S.A., writes to me as follows:

"The attempt to oust the leek as a national emblem in favour of a doubtful daffodil, the placing of a daffodil in the watermark on the new Treasury notes, and the idea of quartering the Colonies and India on the arms while the Welsh dragon does not appear, is repulsive to the national pride, and would be resented."

I had suggested in N. & Q.' that the red dragon might be adopted as the national emblem of Wales, though one cannot shut one's eyes to the fact that it is only the national badge, and not the arms of the country. This renewed discussion, however, as to what is the most fitting emblem to represent Wales in the event of any such suggested change in the royal arms being carried into effect, has led me to reconsider

the question how far the red dragon would be really appropriate for that purpose. The result of this reconsideration is shown in a further letter to The Morning Post of Aug. 28 last, an extract from which I would ask permission to refer to here. After stating Boutell's opinion ('Heraldry, Historical and Popular,' 1864, p. 324) that the arms of Wales might presumably be held to be represented in the arms of England, I wrote:

"Wales seems long ago to have been divided into North and South. Boutell is again very instructive on this point. He states (p. 325) that the arms of the Principality of Wales (Quarterly, 1 and 4, Gules, a lion passant guardant or; 2 and 3, Or, a lion passant guardant gules) form part of an achievement of Queen Elizabeth, though he feels bound to add that Owen Glendwr, as Prince of Wales, A.D. 1404, blazons the lions as 'rampant.' Again, Edward Plantagenet, son of Edward IV., and Arthur Tudor, son of Henry VII., bore separately for the Principality Argent, three lions coward in pale, gules. He adds a note that this last coat is said to have been assigned specifically to North Wales, while the arms of South Wales were the above-mentioned quartered lions rampant. These several bearings are all shown in plate lx.

"The late Rev. Dr. Woodward, a later but equally reliable authority, at p. 237 of vol. i. of his Heraldry, British and Foreign (1896), also gives the before-mentioned quartered lions passant guardant as the arms borne by Llewyllyn ap Griffith, Prince of North Wales, but states that they were still used as the arms of the Principality of Wales.

"According to these authorities, ancient arms for Wales-both North and South-certainly did exist. But which of these three distinct coats should be selected to represent Wales if it

presently be decided that she should be represented in any new royal arms? It will be a curious coincidence if the question should turn out to be the substitution of Welsh lions for English ones! But from which coat? Surely, not that of North Wales, as given by Mr. Boutell. The tail of the British lion may often have been twisted in days gone by, but I scarcely think that we can allow that of its Welsh confrère to remain permanently between its legs (i.e., 'coward ')."

And I went on to say that, in face of this evidence of the existence of ancient arms. of the Principality, I could no longer suggest that the red dragon should be promoted from the dignity of a badge," or a supporter," to an equal share in the royal arms.

I also mentioned that there would seem

to be another reason why the red dragon would not, perhaps, be suitable as a comSince the ponent part of the royal arms. general disuse of the numerous personal badges used by our sovereigns-which dates from the time of Queen Anne-the royal badges have been more clearly defined, and now consist, as settled under the Sign Manual in 1801, of the rose, the thistle, and the shamrock, for England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively, whilst a dragon, wings addorsed gules, passant on a mount vert," represents Wales.

My Welsh correspondent has since sent me, à propos of his remarks about the leek, a copy of a very interesting pamphlet upon the question as to which is the proper

national emblem for Wales-the leek or the daffodil contributed by Mr. A. E. Hughes to vol. xxvi. of the Cymmrodorion Society's publications (1916), which society had published some ten years before a paper by Mr. Ivor B. John advocating the claim of the daffodil to that honour.

Mr. Hughes traces the connexion of the leek with Wales from the time of the battle of Crecy (1346), when that flower-which abounded on the battle-field-was worn by the Welsh in their head-pieces. This presupposes, of course, a greater antiquity. But," says Mr. Hughes (p. 39),

"the Crecy tradition has indeed shown a tendency to cling to Court circles until comparatively recent times, but cannot, apparently, boast of such an array of support as legend."

the St. David

He also refers to the connexion of the leek with St. David's Day (March 1), and cites evidence that in the time of the Tudor sovereign Henry VIII. the yeomen of the

This pamphlet makes out, I think, a very strong case why the leek, and not the daffodil, should be regarded as the national emblem for Wales. But was not this question practically concluded in favour of the leek when His Majesty, a few years ago, ordained that the leek should be worn, as we now see it, in the headdress of his newly formed Welsh Guards, in conjunction with the rose, the thistle, and the shamrock of the other royal regiments of foot-guards?

Nevertheless, the red dragon, as I stated, borne as the badge of the old Welch Regiment, is a very popular cognizance in the public estimation; and if there should be any difficulty, heraldically, in deciding upon the proper set of lions to represent the ancient arms of Wales, the choice might well be left to His Majesty as the "Fountain of Honour." In which case the leek might well take, I think, the place of the red dragon, if the latter be promoted to the rank of arms, in the series above mentioned of the royal badges, and would, as a plant, be more consonant to the other national emblems, the rose, the thistle, and the shamrock.

It is interesting to note in this connexion the circumstance, to which Mr. Hughes refers, that our Tudor sovereigns wore green and white as their royal colours, the colours of the leek. I am not aware of any other suggestion as to the origin of the Tudor livery colours, for they are certainly not derived from the tinctures of their arms, as is usually the case in these matters.

In conclusion we may all agree with Hotspur when he says:

The arms are fair When the intent of (for) bearing them is just. 1 Henry IV.,' Act V. sc. ii. J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.

See also Michael Drayton's 'Polyolbion,' published in 1612, and his Battle of Agincourt, published later.

SAMUEL OWEN,

UNCLE OF AUGUST STRINDBERG. SAMUEL OWEN, who, as his name indicatos, probably had Welsh blood in his veins, was born at no great distance from the border between Wales and England. He first saw the light on May 12, 1774, at Norton-inHales, near Market Drayton, Shropshire. The boy had practically no schooling, but was set to look after geese, pigs, and sheep. Later on he worked as a horse-driver on the canal, and then, at the age of eighteen, was apprenticed to a carpenter. Owen soon displayed considerable mechanical ability, and attracted attention by his eagerness to learn. At the cost of great sacrifices, he acquired knowledge in an evening school when the day's work was done. After the lapse of some years he left his native county, and worked as a joiner at Bolton and at Watt's new factory near Birmingham. Here it was that he became familiar with the steam engine knowledge which Was destined to stand him in good stead. Next he proceeded to a works at Leeds, whence he was sent to Stockholm in 1804 to set up a number of steam-engines which had been bought from the firm by a prominent Swede. In 1806 he again visited Stockholm for a similar purpose, and this time remained in Sweden for good. For three years he was foreman at Bergsund foundry, and then in 1809 he started at Kungsholm in Stockholm a foundry and machinefactory. This works played an extremely important part in the development of Swedish industry. Threshing-machines and many other implements-often the first of their kind in Sweden-were manufactured by Samuel Owen. The men who had worked under him were employed by other firms, and the Kungsholm, works thus became a centre for the dissemination of knowledge in engineering.

Not less useful was Owen's activity as a shipbuilder. He is known, and justly, as the father of the Swedish steamboat industry. It is worth noting that, some time before John Ericsson satisfactorily demonstrated the possibilities of the propeller, Owen had conducted experiments with a boat called the Witch of Stockholm. These experiments were made in 1816, and King Charles XIV., who took a great interest in Owen's efforts, had a vessel built specially for further investigations. The latter were, however, not a success,