I have by me several examples which I will send you if you think the subject worth pursuing.
J. O. B.
Wicken.
"Good wine needs no bush" (Vol. viii., p. 607.).—The custom of hanging out bushes of ivy, boughs of trees, or bunches of flowers, at private houses, as a sign that good cheer may be had within, still prevails in the city of Gloucester at the fair held at Michaelmas, called Barton Fair, from the locality; and at the three "mops," or hiring fairs, on the three Mondays following, to indicate that ale, beer, cider, &c. are there sold, on the strength (I believe) of an ancient privilege enjoyed by the inhabitants of that street to sell liquors, without the usual license, during the fair.
Brookthorpe.
Three Fleurs-de-Lys (Vol. ix., p. 35.).—In reply to the Query of Devoniensis, I would say that many families of his own county bore fleurs-de-lys in their coat armour, in the forms of two and one, and on a bend; also that the heraldic writers, Robson and Burke, assign a coat to the family of Baker charged with three fleurs-de-lys on a fesse. The Devon family of Velland bore, Sable, a fesse argent, in chief three fleurs-de-lys of the last, but whether these bearings were ever placed fesse-wise, or, as your querist terms it, in a horizontal line, I am not sure.
J. D. S.
If Devoniensis will look at the arms of Magdalen College, Oxford, he will there find the three fleurs-de-lys in a line in the upper part of the shield.
A. B.
Athenæum.