P.S.--Allow me to put a Query to the antiquaries of Scotland. Can any of
them help me to the authority from which Nich. Upton derived his livery
collar of the King of Scotland "de gormettis fremalibus equorum?"--J.G.N.
_Collar of SS_ (Vol. ii., pp. 89. 194. 248. 280.).--I am surprised that any
doubt should have arisen about this term, which has evidently no
_spiritual_ or _literary_ derivation from the initial letters of
_Sovereign_, _Sanctus_, _Seneschallus_, or any similar word. It is (as MR.
ELLACOMBE hints, p. 248.) purely descriptive of the _mechanical_ mode of
forming the chain, not by round or closed links, but by hooks alternately
deflected into the shape of _esses_; thus, [Illustration: 3 sideways
capital letter S's]. Whether chains so made (being more susceptible of
ornament than other forms of links) may not have been in special use for
particular {331} purposes, I will not say; but I have no doubt that the
_name_ means no more than that the links were in the shape of the letter S.