Sheffield, Jan. 2. 1851.
_Cockade_ (Vol. iii., p. 7.).--The Query of A. E. has not yet been
satisfactorily answered; nor can I pretend to satisfy him. But as a small
contribution to the history of the decoration in question, I beg to offer
him the following definition from the _Dictionnaire etymologique_ of
Roquefort, 8vo., Paris, 1829:--
"COCARDE, touffe de rubans que sous Louis XIII. on portoit sur le
feutre, et qui imitoit la crete du coq."
If this be correct, APODLIKTES (p. 42.) must be mistaken in attributing so
recent an origin to the cockade as the date of the Hanoverian succession.
The truth is, that from the earliest period of heraldic institutions,
colours have been used to symbolise parties. The mode of wearing them may
have varied; and whether wrought in silk, or more economically represented
in the stamped leather cockade of our private soldier, is little to the
purpose. It will, however, hardly be contended that our present fashion at
all resembles "la crete du coq."