AGENTS

PLATE I.

frontispiece

HERALD, SHOWING TABARD ORIGINALLY WORN OVER MAIL ARMOUR.

PEEPS AT

HERALDRY

BY

PHŒBE ALLEN

CONTAINING 8 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR AND NUMEROUS LINE
DRAWINGS IN THE TEXT


LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1912

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CONTENTS

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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PEEPS AT HERALDRY

AN INTRODUCTORY TALK ABOUT HERALDRY

What is heraldry?

The art of heraldry, or armoury, as the old writers called it, consists in blazoning the arms and telling the descent and history of families by certain pictorial signs. Thus from age to age an authenticated register of genealogies has been kept and handed on from generation to generation. The making and keeping of these records have always been the special duty of a duly appointed herald.

Perhaps you think that explanation of heraldry sounds rather dull, but you will soon find out that very much that is interesting and amusing, too, is associated with the study of armorial bearings.

For heraldry, which, you know, was reckoned as one of the prime glories of chivalry, is the language that keeps alive the golden deeds done in the world, and that is why those who have once learnt its [pg 2] secrets are always anxious to persuade others to learn them too.

"Although," says the old writer, Montague; "our ancestors were little given to study, they held a knowledge of heraldry to be indispensable, because they considered that it was the outward sign of the spirit of chivalry and the index also to a lengthy chronicle of doughty deeds."

Now, it is in a language that is all its own that heraldry tells its stories, and it is unlike any other in which history has been written.

This language, as expressed in armorial bearings, contains no words, no letters, even, for signs and devices do the work of words, and very well they do it. And as almost every object, animate and inanimate, under the sun was used to compose this alphabet, we shall find as we go on that not only are the sun, moon and stars, the clouds and the rainbow, fountains and sea, rocks and stones, trees and plants of all kinds, fruits and grain, pressed into the service of this heraldic language, but that all manner of living creatures figure as well in this strange alphabet, from tiny insects, such as bees and flies and butterflies, to the full-length representations of angels, kings, bishops, and warriors. Mythical creatures—dragons and cockatrices, and even mermaidens—have also found their way into heraldry, just as we find traditions and legends still lingering in the history of nations, like the pale ghosts of old-world beliefs.

And as though heavenly bodies and plants and [pg 3] animals were not sufficient for their purpose, heralds added yet other "letters" to their alphabet in the shape of crowns, maces, rings, musical instruments, ploughs, scythes, spades, wheels, spindles, lamps, etc.

Each of these signs, as you can easily understand, told a story of its own, as did also the towers, castles, arches, bridges, bells, cups, ships, anchors, hunting-horns, spears, bows, arrows, and many other objects, which, with their own special meaning, we shall gradually find introduced into the language of heraldry.

But perhaps by now you are beginning to wonder how you can possibly learn one-half of what all these signs are meant to convey, but you will not wonder about that long, for heraldry has its own well-arranged grammar, and grammar, as you know, means fixed rules which are simple guides for writing or speaking a language correctly.

Moreover, happily both for teacher and learner, the fish and birds and beasts (as well as all the other objects we have just mentioned) do not come swarming on to our pages in shoals and flocks and herds, but we have to do with them either singly or in twos and threes.

Now, even those people who know nothing about heraldry are quite familiar with the term, "a coat of arms." They know, too, that it means the figure of a shield, marked and coloured in a variety of ways, so as to be distinctive of individuals, families, etc.

But why do we speak of it as a coat of arms when there is nothing to suggest such a term?

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I will tell you.

In the far-away days of quite another age, heraldry was so closely connected with warlike exploits, and its signs and tokens were so much used on the battle-field to distinguish friends from foes, that each warrior wore his own special badge, embroidered on the garment or surcoat which covered his armour, as well as, later on, upon the shield which he carried into battle.

And this reminds us of the poor Earl of Gloucester's fate at the Battle of Bannockburn. For, having forgotten to put on his surcoat, he was slain by the enemy, though we are told that "the Scottes would gladly have kept him for a ransom had they only recognized him for the Earl, but he had forgot to put on his coat of armour!"

On the other hand, we have good reason to remember that the "flower of knighthood," Sir John Chandos, lost his life because he did wear his white sarcenet robe emblazoned with his arms. For it was because his feet became entangled in its folds (as Froissart tells us) in his encounter with the French on the Bridge of Lussac, that he stumbled on the slippery ground on that early winter's morning, and thus was quickly despatched by the enemy's blows.

"Now, the principal end for which these signs were first taken up and put in use," says Guillim, "was that they might serve as notes and marks to distinguish tribes, families and particular persons from the other. Nor was this their only use. They also served to [pg 5] describe the nature, quality, and disposition of their bearer."

Sir G. Mackenzie goes farther, and declares that heraldry was invented, or, at any rate, kept up, for two chief purposes:

First, in order to perpetuate the memory of great actions and noble deeds. Secondly, that governors might have the means of encouraging others to perform high exploits by rewarding their deserving subjects by a cheap kind of immortality. (To our ears that last sentence sounds rather disrespectful to the honour of heraldry.)

Thus, for example, King Robert the Bruce gave armorial bearings to the House of Wintoun, which represented a falling crown supported by a sword, to show that its members had supported the crown in its distress, while to one Veitch he gave a bullock's head, "to remember posterity" that the bearer had succoured the King with food in bringing some bullocks to the camp, when he was in want of provisions.

Some derive their names as well as their armorial bearings from some great feat that they may have performed. Thus:

"The son of Struan Robertson for killing of a wolf in Stocket Forest by a durk—dirk—in the King's presence, got the name of Skein, which signifies a dirk in Irish, and three durk points in pale for his arms."

We shall meet with numbers of other instances in heraldry where armorial bearings were bestowed upon [pg 6] the ancestors of their present bearers for some special reason, which is thereby commemorated.

Indeed, it is most interesting and amusing to collect the legends as well as the historical facts which explain the origin and meaning of different coats of arms.

Here are a few instances of some rather odd charges. (A charge is the heraldic term given to any object which is charged, or represented, on the shield of a coat of arms.)

To begin with the Redman family:

They bear three pillows, the origin of which Guillim explains—viz.: "This coat of arms is given to the Redman family for this reason: Having been challenged to single combat by a stranger, and the day and the place for that combat having been duly fixed, Redman being more forward than his challenger, came so early to the place that he fell asleep in his tent, whilst waiting for the arrival of his foe.

"The people being meanwhile assembled and the hour having struck, the trumpets sounded to the combat, whereupon Redman, suddenly awakening out of his sleep, ran furiously upon his adversary and slew him. And so the pillows were granted to him as armorial bearings, to remind all men of the doughty deed which he awakened from sleep to achieve."

In many cases the charges on a coat of arms reflect the name or the calling of the bearer.

When this happens they are called "allusive" arms, sometimes also "canting," which latter word is a literal [pg 7] translation of the French term, armes chantantes, although, as a matter of fact, armes parlantes is a more usual term. Here are some examples of allusive arms.

The Pyne family bear three pineapples, the Herrings bear three herrings, one, Camel of Devon, bears a camel passant; the Oxendens bear three oxen; Sir Thomas Elmes bears five elm-leaves; three soles figure on the coat of arms of the Sole family, and to the description of the last armorial charge, old Guillim quaintly adds:

"By the delicateness of his taste, the sole hath gained the name of the partridge of the sea."

The arms of the Abbot of Ramsey furnish, perhaps, one of the most glaring examples of canting heraldry, for on his shield a ram is represented struggling in the sea!

On the shield of the Swallow family we find the mast of a ship with all its rigging disappearing between the capacious jaws of a whale, whilst the Bacons bear a boar.

But whoever designed the coat of arms of a certain Squire Malherbe must have surely been in rather a spiteful mood, and certainly had a turn for punning. For on that gentleman's shield we find three leaves of the stinging-nettle boldly charged!

In the armorial bearings of the Butler family we see allusion made to their calling in the charge of three covered cups, which commemorates the historical fact that the ancestor of the present Marquis of Ormonde, Theobald Walter by name, was made Chief Butler of Ireland by Henry II. in 1171, an office which was held [pg 8] by seven successive generations of the Ormonde family. The family of Call charge their shield very appropriately with three silver trumpets.

The Foresters bear bugle horns; the Trumpingtons, three trumpets.

Three eel-spears were borne by the family of Strathele, this being the old name given to a curious fork, set in a long wooden handle, and used by fishermen to spear the eels in mud.

The Graham Briggs charge a bridge upon their coat of arms.

A tilting spear was granted as his armorial bearings to William Shakespeare, which he bore as a single charge; a single spear was also borne appropriately by one Knight of Hybern.

As a last example of allusive arms, we may quote a comparatively modern example—viz., the coat of arms of the Cunard family.

Here we find three anchors charged upon the field, in obvious allusion to Sir Samuel Cunard, the eminent merchant of Philadelphia and the founder of the House of Cunard.

THE SHIELD—ITS FORM, POINTS, AND TINCTURES

Nothing is more fascinating in the study of heraldry than the cunning fashion in which it tells the history either of a single individual or of a family, of an institution, [pg 9] or of a city—sometimes even of an empire—all within the space of one small shield, by using the signs which compose its language. It is astounding how much information can be conveyed by the skilful arrangement of these signs to those who can interpret them.

For armorial bearings were not originally adopted for ornament, but to give real information, about those who bore them.

PLATE 2.

THE DUKE OF LEINSTER.

Arms.—Arg: saltire gu:
Crest.—Monkey statant ppr. environed round the loins and chained or.
Supporters.—Two monkeys environed and chained or.
Motto.—Crom a boo.

Thus every detail of a coat of arms has its own message to deliver, and must not be overlooked. Let us begin with the shield, which is as necessary a part of any heraldic achievement¹ as the canvas of a painting is to the picture portrayed upon it.

1:  Any complete heraldic composition is described as an achievement.

It actually serves as the vehicle for depicting the coat of arms.

The word "shield" comes from the Saxon verb scyldan, to protect, but the heraldic term "escutcheon," derived from the Greek skûtos, a skin, reminds us that in olden days warriors covered their shields with the skins of wild beasts.

Early Britons used round, light shields woven of osier twigs, with hides thrown over them, whilst the Scythians and Medes dyed their shields red, so that their comrades in battle might not be discouraged by seeing the blood of the wounded. The Roman Legionary bore a wooden shield covered with leather and strengthened with bars and bosses of metal, whilst the [pg 10] Greek shield was more elaborate, and reached from a man's face to his knee. Homer describes Æneas' shield in the "Iliad" thus:

But whether the shield were of basket-work or metal, whether it were borne by a savage hordesman or by a nobly equipped and mounted knight, it has always ranked as its bearer's most precious accoutrement, the loss of which was deemed an irreparable calamity and a deep disgrace to the loser.

How pathetically King David laments over "the shield of the mighty which was vilely cast away," when Saul was slain! And everyone knows that when their sons went forth to battle the Spartan mothers admonished them to return either "with their shield or upon it"!

That they should return without a shield was unthinkable! Thus, naturally enough, the shield was chosen to bear those armorial devices which commemorated the golden deeds of its owner.

It was probably in the reign of Henry II. that shields were first used in this way; until then, warriors wore their badges embroidered upon their mantles or robes.

In studying the heraldic shield, its shape must be considered first, because that marks the period in history to which it belongs.²

2:   Parker states that twenty-one differently shaped shields occur in heraldry, but Guillim only mentions fourteen varieties.

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Thus a bowed shield (Fig. 1) denotes those early times when a warrior's shield fitted closely to his person, whilst a larger, longer form, the kite-shaped shield, was in use in the time of Richard I. (Fig. 2). This disappeared, however, in Henry III.'s reign, giving way to a much shorter shield known as the "heater-shaped" (see Fig. 3).

Another form of shield had a curved notch in the right side, through which the lance was passed when the shield was displayed on the breast (Fig. 4).

The shield of a coat of arms usually presents a plain surface, but it is sometimes enriched with a bordure—literally border. This surface is termed the "field," "because, as I believe," says Guillim, "it bore those ensigns which the owner's valour had gained for him on the field."

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3.     Fig. 4.

The several points of a shield have each their respective names, and serve as landmarks for locating the exact position of the different figures charged on the field. (In describing a shield, you must always think of it as being worn by yourself, so that in looking at a [pg 12] shield, right and left become reversed, and what appears to you as the right side is really the left, and vice versa.)

Fig. 5.

In Fig. 5, A, B, C, mark the chief—i.e., the highest and most honourable point of the shield—A marking the dexter chief or upper right-hand side of the shield, B the middle chief, and C the sinister or left-hand side of the chief. E denotes the fess point, or centre; G, H, and I, mark the base of the shield—G and I denoting respectively the dexter and sinister sides of the shield, and H the middle base. After the points of a field, come the tinctures, which give the colour to a coat of arms, and are divided into two classes. The first includes the two metals, gold and silver, and the five colours proper—viz., blue, red, black, green, purple. In heraldic language these tinctures are described as "or," "argent" (always written arg:), "azure" (az:), "gules" (gu:),³ "sable" (sa:), "vert," and "purpure." According to Guillim, each tincture was supposed to teach its own lesson—e.g., "as gold excelleth all other metals in value and purity, so ought its bearer to surpass all others in prowess and virtue," and so on.

3:  This term for red is thought to be derived either from the Hebrew gulude, a bit of red cloth, or from the Arabic, gulu, a rose.

In the seventeenth century one Petrosancta introduced the system of delineating the tinctures of the [pg 13] shield by certain dots and lines, in the use of which we have a good example of how heraldry can dispense with words. Thus pin-prick dots represent or (Fig. 6); a blank surface, argent (Fig. 7); horizontal lines, azure (Fig. 8); perpendicular, gules (Fig. 9); horizontal and perpendicular lines crossing each other, sable (Fig. 10); diagonal lines running from the dexter chief to the sinister base, vert (Fig. 11); diagonal lines running in an opposite direction, purpure (Fig. 12).

Fig. 6.—Or.Fig. 7.—Arg.Fig. 8.—Az. Fig. 9.—Gu.

Fig. 10.—Sa.Fig. 11.—V.Fig. 12.—Purpure.

Two other colours, orange and blood-colour, were formerly in use, but they are practically obsolete now.

Furs constitute the second class of tinctures. Eight kinds occur in English heraldry, but we can only mention the two most important—viz., ermine and [pg 14] vair. The former is represented by black spots on a white ground (Fig. 13).⁴ As shields were anciently covered with the skins of animals, it is quite natural that furs should appear in armorial bearings. "Ermine," says Guillim, "is a little beast that hath his being in the woods of Armenia, whereof he taketh his name."

4:  When the same spots are in white on a black field it is termed ermines, whilst black spots on a gold field are blazoned or described as erminois.

Many legends account for the heraldic use of ermine, notably that relating how, when Conan Meriadic landed in Brittany, an ermine sought shelter from his pursuers under Conan's shield. Thereupon the Prince protected the small fugitive, and adopted an ermine as his arms.

Fig. 13.—Ermine.

From early days the wearing of ermine was a most honourable distinction, enjoyed only by certain privileged persons, and disallowed to them in cases of misdemeanour. Thus, when, in the thirteenth century, Pope Innocent III. absolved Henry of Falkenburg for his share in the murder of the Bishop of Wurtzburg, he imposed on him as a penance never to appear in ermine, vair, or any other colour used in tournaments. And, according to Joinville, when St. Louis returned to France from Egypt, "he renounced the wearing of furs as a mark of humility, contenting himself with linings for his garments made of doeskins or legs of hares."

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As to vair, Mackenzie tells us that it was the skin of a beast whose back was blue-grey (it was actually meant for the boar, for which verres was the Latin name), and that the figure used in heraldry to indicate vair represents the shape of the skin when the head and feet have been taken away (Fig. 14). "These skins," he says, "were used by ancient governors to line their pompous robes, sewing one skin to the other."

Fig. 14.—Vair.

Vair was first used as a distinctive badge by the Lord de Courcies when fighting in Hungary. Seeing that his soldiers were flying from the field, he tore the lining from his mantle and raised it aloft as an ensign. Thereupon, the soldiers rallied to the charge and overcame the enemy.

Cinderella's glass slipper in the fairy-tale, which came originally from France, should really have been translated "fur," it being easy to understand how the old French word vaire was supposed to be a form of verre, and was rendered accordingly.

Much might still be said about "varied fields"—i.e., those which have either more than one colour or a metal and a colour alternatively, or, again, which have patterns or devices represented upon them. We can, however, only mention that when the field shows small squares alternately of a metal and colour, it is described as checky, when it is strewn with small objects—such [pg 16] as fleurs-de-lys or billets—it is described as "powdered" or "sown." A diapered field is also to be met with, but this, being merely an artistic detail, has no heraldic significance. Therefore, whereas in blazoning armorial bearings one must always state if the field is checky or powdered, the diaper is never mentioned.

In concluding this chapter we must add that one of the first rules to be learnt in heraldry is that in arranging the tinctures of a coat of arms, metal can never be placed upon metal, nor colour upon colour. The field must therefore be gold or silver if it is to receive a coloured charge, or vice versa. This rule was probably made because, as we said above, the knights originally bore their arms embroidered upon their mantles, these garments being always either of cloth of gold or of silver, embroidered with silk, or they were of silken material, embroidered with gold or silver.

DIVISIONS OF THE SHIELD

Although in many shields the field presents an unbroken surface, yet we often find it cut up into divisions of several kinds. These divisions come under the head of simple charges, and the old heralds explain their origin—viz.: "After battles were ended, the shields of soldiers were considered, and he was accounted most [pg 17] deserving whose shield was most or deepest cut. And to recompense the dangers wherein they were shown to have been by those cuts for the service of their King and country, the heralds did represent them upon their shields. The common cuts gave name to the common partitions, of which the others are made by various conjunctions."

PLATE 3.

MARQUIS OF HERTFORD.

Arms.—Quarterly 1st and 4th Or on a pile gu: between 6 fleurs de lys az:
3 lions passant guardant in pale or.
2nd and 3rd gu: 2 wings conjoined in lure or. Seymour.
Crest.—Out of a ducal coronet or, a phœnix ppr.
Supporters.—Two blackamoors.
Motto.—Fide et amore.

The heraldic term given to these partition-lines of the field is ordinaries. There are nine of these, termed respectively, chief, fesse, bar, pale, cross, bend, saltire, chevron, and pile.

Fig. 15.Fig. 16.

The chief, occupying about the upper third of the field, is marked off by a horizontal line (Fig. 15); the fesse, derived from the Latin fascia, a band, is a broad band crossing the centre of the field horizontally, and extends over a third of its surface (Fig. 16). The bar is very like the fesse, but differs from it, (a) in being much narrower and only occupying a fifth portion of the field, (b) in being liable to be placed in any part of the field, whereas the fesse is an immovable charge, (c) in being used mostly in pairs and not singly. Two or three bars may be charged on the same field, and when an even number either of metal or fur alternating with a colour occur together, the field is then described [pg 18] as barry, the number of the bars being always stated, so that if there are six bars, it is said to be "barry of six," if eight, "barry of eight" (Fig. 17). The pale, probably derived from palus, a stake, is also a broad band like the fesse, but runs perpendicularly down the shield, instead of horizontally across it (Fig. 18).

Fig. 17.Fig. 18.Fig. 19.

The cross, which is the ordinary St. George's Cross, is pre-eminently the heraldic cross, out of nearly four hundred varieties of the sacred sign. It is really a simple combination of the fesse and pale. Bend is again a broad band, but it runs diagonally across the field from the dexter chief to the sinister base. It is supposed to occupy a third portion of the field, but rarely does so (Fig. 19). The saltire is the familiar St. Andrew's Cross, owing its name probably to the French salcier (see Fig. 20). The chevron, resembling the letter V turned topsy-turvy, is a combination of a bend dexter and a bend sinister, and is rather more than the lower half of the saltire. The French word chevron, still in use, means rafters (Fig. 21). The pile, derived from the Latin for pillar, is a triangular wedge, and when [pg 19] charged singly on a field may issue from any point of the latter, except from the base (Fig. 22). If more than one pile occurs, we generally find the number is three, although the Earl of Clare bears "two piles issuing from the chief." Many old writers, notably amongst the French, attribute a symbolical meaning to each of these ordinaries. Thus, some believe the chief to represent the helmet of the warrior, the fesse his belt or band, the bar "one of the great peeces of tymber which be used to debarre the enemy from entering any city." The pale was thought by some to represent the warrior's lance, by others the palings by which cities and camps were guarded; the cross was borne by those who fought for the faith; the bend was interpreted by some to refer to the shoulder-scarf of the knight, whilst others describe it as "a scaling-ladder set aslope." Another variety of the scaling-ladder was represented by the saltire. The chevron, or rafters, were held to symbolize protection, such as a roof affords, whilst the pile suggests a strong support of some sort.

Fig. 20.Fig. 21.Fig. 22.

There is a tenth ordinary, which is known as the [pg 20] "shakefork" (Fig. 23). Practically unknown in English heraldry, it is frequently met with in Scotch arms. It is shaped like the letter Y and pointed at its extremities, but does not extend to the edge of the field. Guillim attributes its origin to "an instrument in use in the royal stables, whereby hay was thrown up to the horses" (surely this instrument must have been next-of-kin to our homely pitchfork?), and he believes the shakefork to have been granted to a certain Earl of Glencairne, who at one time was Master of the King's Horse.

Fig. 23.

Many historical stories are connected with the different charges we have just been describing, but we have only space to mention two, referring respectively to the fesse and the saltire.

The former reminds us of the origin of the arms of Austria, which date from the Siege of Acre, where our Cœur-de-Lion won such glory. It was here that Leopold, Duke of Austria, went into battle, clad in a spotlessly white linen robe, bound at the waist with his knight's belt. On returning from the field, the Duke's tunic was "total gules"—blood-red—save where the belt had protected the white of the garment. Thereupon, his liege-lord, Duke Frederic of Swabia, father of the famous Frederic Barbarossa, granted permission to Leopold to bear as his arms a silver fesse upon a blood-red field.

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The saltire, recalling the French form of scaling-ladder of the Middle Ages, reminds us of how the brave Joan of Arc placed the salcier with her own hands against the fort of Tournelles. And we remember how, when her shoulder was presently pierced by an English arrow, she herself drew it out from the ghastly wound, rebuking the women who wept round her with the triumphant cry: "This is not blood, but glory!"

Fig. 24.

In addition to the ordinaries, there are fifteen sub-ordinaries. These less important divisions of the shield are known in heraldry as the canton, inescutcheon, bordure, orle, tressure, flanches, lozenge, mascle, rustre, fusil, billet, gyron, frette, and roundle. Owing to limited space, we cannot go into detail with regard to these charges, but we may mention that the canton, from the French word for a corner, is placed, with rare exceptions, in the dexter side of the field, being supposed to occupy one-third of the chief. It is often added as an "augmentation of honour" to a coat of arms. The badge of a baronet, the red hand, is generally charged on a canton, sometimes also on an inescutcheon, and it is then placed on the field, so as not to interfere with the family arms (Fig. 24). The inescutcheon is a smaller shield placed upon the field, and, when borne singly, it occupies the centre (Fig. 25). Three, or even five, [pg 22] escutcheons may be borne together. The bordure (Fig. 26) is a band surrounding the field, which may be either void—that is, bearing no kind of device—or it may have charges upon it, as in the arms of England, where the bordure is charged with eight lions. The orle and the tressure are only varieties of the bordure, just as the mascle, rustre, and fusil, are variations of the diamond-shaped figure known as the "lozenge" (Fig. 27). The latter is always set erect on the field. The arms of an unmarried woman and a widow are always displayed on a lozenge. The mascle—a link of chain armour—is a lozenge square set diagonally, pierced in the centre with a diamond-shaped opening, whilst the rustre is a lozenge pierced with a round hole. The fusil is a longer and narrower form of diamond.

Fig. 25.Fig. 26.Fig. 27.

Fig. 28.

The billet is a small elongated rectangular figure, representing a block of wood, and is seldom used. The gyron (Fig. 28), which is a triangular figure, does not occur in English [pg 23] heraldry as a single charge, but what is termed a coat gyronny is not unusual in armorial bearings, when the field may be divided into ten, twelve, or even sixteen pieces. All arms borne by the Campbell clan have a field gyronny. The origin of the word is doubtful; some trace it to the Greek for curve, others to a Spanish word for gore or gusset. The introduction of a gyron into heraldry dates from the reign of Alfonso VI. of Spain, who, being sore beset by the Moors, was rescued by his faithful knight, Don Roderico de Cissnères. The latter, as a memento of the occasion, tore three triangular pieces from Alfonso's mantle, being henceforward allowed to represent the same on his shield in the shape of a gyron. The frette, formerly known as a "trellis," from its resemblance to lattice-work, is very frequent in British heraldry; it also occurs as a net in connection with fish charges. In the Grand Tournament held at Dunstable to celebrate Edward III.'s return from Scotland, one Sir John de Harrington bore "a fretty arg., charged upon a sable field."

The roundlet is simply a ring of metal or colour, and is much used in coats of arms at all periods of heraldry. The family of Wells bears a roundlet to represent a fountain, whilst the Sykes charge their shield with three roundlets, in allusion to their name, "sykes" being an old term for a well.

Fig. 29.

In Fig. 29 we see an example of a shield charged with an inescutcheon within a bordure.

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THE BLAZONING OF ARMORIAL BEARINGS

In this chapter we shall deal with blazoning, in which "the skill of heraldry" is said to lie.

The word "blazon" in its heraldic sense means the art of describing armorial bearings in their proper terms and sequence.

"To blazon," says Guillim, "signifies properly the winding of a horn, but to blazon a coat of arms is to describe or proclaim the things borne upon it in their proper gestures and tinctures" (i.e., their colours and attitudes) "which the herald was bound to do."¹

1:  Our word "blast," as well as our verb "to blow," are obviously derived from the German blasen, the Anglo-Saxon blawen, to blow, and the French blasonner.

The herald, as we know, performed many different offices. It was his duty to carry messages between hostile armies, to marshal processions, to challenge to combat, to arrange the ceremonial at grand public functions, to settle questions of precedence, to identify the slain on the battle-field—this duty demanded an extensive knowledge of heraldry²—to announce his sovereign's commands, and, finally, to proclaim the [pg 25] armorial bearings and feats of arms of each knight as he entered the lists at a tournament.

2:  Do you remember that in the "Canterbury Tales" the knight tells the story of how, after the battle, "two young knights were found lying side by side, each clad in his own arms," and how neither of them, though "not fully dead," was alive enough to say his own name, but by their coote-armure and by their gere the heraudes knew them well?

Probably because this last duty was preceded by a flourish or blast of trumpets, people learnt to associate the idea of blazoning with the proclamation of armorial bearings, and thus the term crept into heraldic language and signified the describing or depicting of all that belonged to a coat of arms.

The few and comparatively simple rules with regard to blazoning armorial bearings must be rigidly observed. They are the following:

1. In depicting a coat of arms we must always begin with the field.

2. Its tincture must be stated first, whether of metal or colour. This is such an invariable rule that the first word in the description of arms is always the tincture, the word "field" being so well understood that it is never mentioned. Thus, when the field of a shield is azure, the blazon begins "Az.," the charges being mentioned next, each one of these being named before its colour. Thus, we should blazon Fig. 44 "Or, raven proper." When the field is semé with small charges such as fleur-de-lys, it must be blazoned accordingly "semé of fleur-de-lys," in the case of cross-crosslets, the term "crusily" is used.

3. The ordinaries must be mentioned next, being blazoned before their colour. Thus, if a field is divided say, by bendlets (Fig. 30), the diminution of bend, it is blazoned "per bendlets," if by a pale (Fig. 18), "per [pg 26] pale," or "per pallets," if the diminutive occurs, as in Fig. 31, whilst the division in Fig. 32 should be blazoned "pale per fesse." The field of Fig. 17 is blazoned "arg., two bars gu." All the ordinaries and subordinaries are blazoned in this way except the chief, (Fig. 15), the quarter (blazoned "per cross or quarterly") the canton, the flanch, and the bordure. These, being considered less important than the other divisions, are never mentioned until all the rest of the shield has been described. Consequently, we should blazon Fig. 48 thus, "Arg., chevron gu., three soles hauriant—drinking, proper, with a bordure invected sa."

Fig. 30.Fig. 31.Fig. 32.

The term invected reminds us that so far we have only spoken of ordinaries which have straight unbroken outlines. But there are at least thirteen different ways in which the edge of an ordinary may vary from the straight line. Here, however, we can only mention the four best-known varieties, termed, respectively, engrailed, (Fig. 33, 1), invected (2), embattled (3), and indented (4). Other varieties are known as wavy, raguly, dancetté, dovetailed, nebuly, etc. Whenever any of these varieties occur, [pg 27] they must be blazoned before the tincture. Thus in describing the Shelley arms, Fig. 50, we should say: "Sa, fesse indented, whelks or." Fig. 34 shows a bend embattled, Fig. 35 a fesse engrailed.

Fig. 33.

Fig. 34.

Fig. 35.

4. The next thing to be blazoned is the principal charge on the field. If this does not happen to be one of the chief ordinaries, or if no ordinary occurs in the coat of arms, as in Fig. 38, then that charge should be named which occupies the fesse point, and in this case the position of the charge is never mentioned, because it is understood that it occupies the middle of the field. When there are two or more charges on the same field, but none actually placed on the fesse point, then that charge is blazoned first which is nearest the centre and then those which are more remote. All repetition of words must be avoided in depicting a coat of arms, the same word never being used twice over, either in describing the tincture or in stating a number.

[pg 28]

Thus, in blazoning Lord Scarborough's arms (see coloured plate), we must say: "Arg., fesse gu., between three parrots vert, collared of the second," the second signifying the second colour mentioned in the blazon—viz., gules. Again, if three charges of one kind occur in the same field with three charges of another kind, as in the arms of Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had three roundles and three mitres, to avoid repeating the word three, they are blazoned, "Three roundles with as many mitres."

When any charge is placed on an ordinary, as in Fig. 41, where three calves are charged upon the bend, if these charges are of the same colour as the field instead of repeating the name of the colour, it must be blazoned as being "of the field."

We now come to those charges known as "marks of cadency." They are also called "differences" or "distinctions."

Fig. 36.

Cadency—literally, "falling down"—means in heraldic language, "descending a scale," and is therefore a very suitable term for describing the descending degrees of a family. Thus "marks of cadency" are certain figures or devices which are employed in armorial bearings in order to mark the distinctions between the different members and branches of one and the same family. These marks are always smaller than other charges, and the herald is careful to place them where they do not interfere with the rest of the coat of arms. There are nine marks of cadency—generally [pg 29] only seven are quoted—so that in a family of nine sons, each son has his own special difference. The eldest son bears a label (Fig. 36, 1); the second, a crescent, (2); third, a mullet (3)—the heraldic term for the rowel of a spur³; the fourth, a martlet (4)—the heraldic swallow; the fifth, a roundle or ring (5); the sixth, a fleur-de-lys (6); the seventh, a rose (7); the eighth, a cross moline; and the ninth, a double quatrefoil. The single quatrefoil represents the heraldic primrose. There is much doubt as to why the label was chosen for the eldest son's badge, but though many writers interpret the symbolism of the other marks of cadency in various ways, most are agreed as to the meaning of the crescent, mullet, and martlet—viz., the crescent represents the double blessing which gives hope of future increase; the mullet implies that the third son must earn a position for himself by his own knightly deeds; whilst the martlet suggests that the younger son of a family must be content with a very small portion of land to rest upon. As regards the representation [pg 30] of the other charges, the writer once saw the following explanation in an old manuscript manual of French heraldry—namely: "The fifth son bears a ring, as he can only hope to enrich himself through marriage; the sixth, a fleur-de-lys, to represent the quiet, retired life of the student; the seventh, a rose, because he must learn to thrive and blossom amidst the thorns of hardships; the eighth, a cross, as a hint that he should take holy orders; whilst to the ninth son is assigned the double primrose, because he must needs dwell in the humble paths of life."

3:  A mullet is generally represented as a star with five points, but if there are six or more, the number must be specified. It must also be stated if the mullet is pierced, so that the tincture of the field is shown through the opening.

Fig. 37.

The eldest son of a second son would charge his difference as eldest son, a label, upon his father's crescent (Fig. 37), to show that he was descended from the second son, all his brothers charging their own respective differences on their father's crescent also. Thus, each eldest son of all these sons in turn becomes head of his own particular branch.

When a coat of arms is charged with a mark of cadency, it is always mentioned last in blazoning, and is followed by the words, "for a difference." Thus Fig. 43 should be blazoned, "Or, kingfisher with his beak erected bendways⁴ proper with a mullet for a difference gu.," thus showing that the arms are borne by a third son.

4:  The individual direction of a charge should be blazoned, as well as its position in the field.

[pg 31]

COMMON OR MISCELLANEOUS CHARGES

After the "proper charges" which we have just been considering, we come to those termed "common or miscellaneous."

(How truly miscellaneous these are we have already shown in our first chapter.) Guillim arranges these charges in the following order:

Celestial Bodies.—Angels, sun, moon, stars, etc.

Metals and Minerals.—Under this latter title rank precious stones and useful stones—such as jewels and millstones, grindstones, etc., also rocks.

Plants and other Vegetatives.

Living Creatures.—These latter he divides into two classes—viz., "Those which are unreasonable, as all manner of beasts" and "Man, which is reasonable."

To begin with the heavenly bodies.

Angels, as also human beings, are very rare charges, though Guillim quotes the arms of one Maellock Kwrm, of Wales, where three robed kneeling angels are charged upon a chevron, and also the coat of arms of Sir John Adye in the seventeenth century, where three cherubim heads occur on the field. Both angels and men, however, are often used in heraldry as supporters. Charles VI. added two angels as supporters to the arms of France, and two winged angels occur as such in the arms of the Earl of Oxford.

[pg 32]

Supporters, you must understand, are those figures which are represented standing on either side of a shield of arms, as if they were supporting it. No one may bear these figures except by special grant, the grant being restricted to Peers, Knights of the Garter, Thistle, and St. Patrick, Knights Grand Cross, and Knights Grand Commanders of other orders.

Charges of the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies are comparatively rare. One St. Cleere rather aptly bears the "sun in splendour," which is represented as a human face, surrounded by rays. Sir W. Thompson's shield is charged with the sun and three stars. The sun eclipsed occurs occasionally in armorial bearings; it is then represented thus: Or, the sun sable.

The moon occurs very often in early coats of arms, either full, when she is blazoned "the moon in her complement," or in crescent. The Defous bear a very comical crescent, representing a human profile. Of these arms, the old herald says severely: "A weak eye and a weaker judgment have found the face of a man in the moon, wherein we have gotten that fashion of representing the moon with a face."

The moon is certainly not in favour with Guillim, for, after declaring that she was the symbol of inconstancy, he quotes the following fable from Pliny to her discredit:

"Once on a time the moon sent for a tailor to make her a gown, but he could never fit her; it was always either too big or too little, not through any fault of his [pg 33] own, but because her inconstancy made it impossible to fit the humours of one so fickle and unstable."

The sixth Bishop of Ely had very curious arms, for he bore both sun and moon on his shield, the sun "in his splendour" and the moon "in her complement."

Stars occur repeatedly as heraldic charges. John Huitson of Cleasby bore a sixteen-pointed star; Sir Francis Drake charged his shield with the two polar stars; whilst Richard I. bore a star issuing from the horns of a crescent. The Cartwrights bear a comet; whilst the rainbow is charged on the Ponts' shield, and is also borne as a crest by the Pontifex, Wigan, and Thurston families. The Carnegies use a thunderbolt as their crest.

We now come to the elements—fire, water, earth, and air, which all occur as charges, but not often, in armorial bearings.

Fire, in the form of flames, is perhaps the most frequent charge. The Baikie family bear flames, whilst we have seen the picture of a church window in Gloucestershire, where a coat of arms is represented with a chevron between three flames of fire. The original bearer of these arms distinguished himself, we were told, by restoring the church after it had been burnt down. Fire often occurs in combination with other charges, such as a phœnix, which always rises out of flames, the salamander,¹ and the fiery sword.

1:  The salamander was the device of Francis I. of France, and on the occasion of the Field of the Cloth of Gold the French guard bore the salamander embroidered on their uniforms.

[pg 34]

Queen Elizabeth chose a phœnix amidst flames as one of her heraldic charges. Macleod, Lord of the Isles of Skye and Lewis, bears "a mountain inflamed"—literally, a volcano—on his shield, thus combining the two elements, earth and fire.

"Etna is like this," says Guillim; "or else this is like Etna."

Water, as we know, is usually represented by roundlets, but the earth may figure in a variety of ways when introduced into heraldry.

In the arms of one King of Spain it took the shape of fifteen islets, whilst one Sir Edward Tydesley charged his field with three mole-hills.

Jewels pure and simple occur very rarely as charges. A single "escarbuncle" was borne by the Empress Maud, daughter of Henry I., as also by the Blounts of Gloucester. Oddly enough, however, mill-stones were held to be very honourable charges, because, as they must always be used in pairs, they symbolized the mutual dependence of one fellow-creature on the other. They were therefore considered the most precious of all other stones.

The family of Milverton bear three mill-stones.

Plants, having been created before animals, are considered next.

Trees, either whole or represented by stocks or branches, are very favourite charges, and often reflect the bearer's name.

Thus, one Wood bears a single oak, the Pines, a pineapple [pg 35] tree, the Pyrtons, a pear-tree. Parts of a tree are often introduced into arms. For example, the Blackstocks bear three stocks, or trunks, of trees, whilst another family of the same name charge their shield with "three starved branches, sa." The Archer-Houblons most appropriately bear three hop-poles erect with hop-vines. (Houblon is the French for hop.) Three broom slips are assigned to the Broom family; the Berrys bear one barberry branch; Sir W. Waller, three walnut leaves. Amongst fruit charges, we may mention the three golden pears borne by the Stukeleys, the three red cherries which occur in the arms of the Southbys of Abingdon, and the three clusters of grapes which were bestowed on Sir Edward de Marolez by Edward I. One John Palmer bears three acorns, and three ashen-keys occur in the arms of Robert Ashford of Co. Down.

A full-grown oak-tree, covered with acorns and growing out of the ground, was given for armorial bearings by Charles II. to his faithful attendant, Colonel Carlos, as a reminder of the perils that they shared together at the lonely farmhouse at Boscobel, where the king took refuge after the Battle of Worcester. Here, as you probably all know, Charles hid himself for twenty-four hours in a leafy oak-tree, whilst Cromwell's soldiers searched the premises to find him, even passing under the very branches of the oak. Carlos, meanwhile, in the garb of a wood-cutter, kept breathless watch close by. On the Carlos coat of arms a fesse gu., [pg 36] charged with three imperial golden crowns, traverses the oak.

In blazoning trees and all that pertains to them, the following terms are used: Growing trees are blazoned as "issuant from a mount vert"; a full-grown tree, as "accrued"; when in leaf, as "in foliage"; when bearing fruit, as "fructed," or seeds, as "seeded." If leafless, trees are blazoned "blasted"; when the roots are represented, as "eradicated"; stocks or stumps of trees are "couped." If branches or leaves are represented singly, they are "slipped." Holly branches, for some odd reason, are invariably blazoned either as "sheaves" or as "holly branches of three leaves."

Some of our homely vegetables are found in heraldry. One Squire Hardbean bears most properly three bean-cods or pods; a "turnip leaved" is borne by the Damant family, and is supposed to symbolize "a good wholesome, and solid disposition," whilst the Lingens use seven leeks, root upwards, issuing from a ducal coronet, for a crest. Herbs also occur as charges. The family of Balme bears a sprig of balm, whilst rue still figures in the Ducal arms of Saxony. This commemorates the bestowal of the Dukedom on Bernard of Ascania by the Emperor Barbarossa, who, on that occasion, took the chaplet of rue from his own head and flung it across Bernard's shield.

Amongst flower charges, our national badge, the rose, is prime favourite, and occurs very often in heraldry. The Beverleys bear a single rose, so does Lord Falmouth. [pg 37] The Nightingale family also use the rose as a single charge, in poetical allusion to the Oriental legend of the nightingale's overpowering love for the "darling rose." The Roses of Lynne bear three roses, as also the families of Flower, Cary, and Maurice. Sometimes the rose of England is drawn from nature, but it far oftener takes the form of the heraldic or Tudor rose. Funnily enough, however, when a stem and leaves are added to the conventional flower, these are drawn naturally.

There are special terms for blazoning roses. Thus, when, as in No. 7 of Fig. 36, it is represented with five small projecting sepals of the calyx, and seeded, it must be blazoned "a rose barbed and seeded"; when it has a stalk and one leaf it is "slipped," but with a leaf on either side of the stalk, it is "stalked and leaved." A rose surrounded with rays is blazoned "a rose in sun" (rose en soleil). Heraldic roses are by no means always red, for the Rocheforts bear azure roses, the Smallshaws a single rose vert, whilst the Berendons have three roses sable.

The thistle, being also our national badge, has a special importance in our eyes, but next to the "chiefest among flowers, the rose, the heralds ranked the fleur-de-lys," because it was the charge of a regal escutcheon, originally borne by the French kings. Numerous legends explain the introduction of the lily into armorial bearings, but we can only add here that although the fleur-de-lys is generally used in heraldry, the natural [pg 38] flower is occasionally represented—as in the well-known arms of Eton College; three natural lilies, silver, are charged upon a sable field, one conventional fleur-de-lys being also represented. Amongst other flower charges, three very pretty coats of arms are borne respectively by the families of Jorney, Hall, and Chorley. The first have three gilliflowers, the second, three columbines, and the last, three bluebottles (cornflowers).

Three pansies were given by Louis XV. to his physician, Dr. Quesnay, as a charge in a coat of arms, which he drew with his own royal hand; and to come to modern times, Mexico has adopted the cactus as the arms of the Republic, in allusion to the legend connected with the founding of the city in 1325, when it is said that the sight of a royal eagle perched upon a huge cactus on a rocky crevice, with a serpent in its talons, guided the Mexicans to the choice of a site for the foundations of their city.

One last word as to cereals.

The Bigland family bear two huge wheat-ears, which, having both stalk and leaves, are blazoned "couped and bladed." As in the case of trees, when represented growing, wheat-ears are described as "issuant out of a mount, bladed and eared." Three ears of Guinea wheat, "bearded like barley," are borne by Dr. Grandorge (Dr. Big-barley); three "rie stalks slipped and bladed" occur in the arms of the Rye family; whilst "five garbes" (sheaves) were granted to Ralph Merrifield by James I.

[pg 39]

Wheat-sheaves (garbes) are very favourite charges. Lord Cloncurry bears three garbes in chief; Sir Montague Cholmeley bears a garbe in the base of his shield, as does also the Marquis of Cholmondeley.

Garbes and wheat-ears were also much used as crests.

The Shakerleys have a sheaf of corn for their crest, on the left of which is a little rabbit, erect, and resting her forefeet on the garbe; Sir Edward Denny's crest is a hand holding five wheat-ears; whilst Sir George Crofton has seven ears of corn as his crest.

Though quite out of order amongst cereals, we may mention what is, I believe, a rather rare example of the representation of the fern in heraldry, Sir Edward Buckley's crest—a bull's head out of a fern brake.

ANIMAL CHARGES

In dealing with charges of living creatures, we shall observe the following order: (a) "Animals of all sort living on the earth"; (b) "such as live above the earth"; (c) "watery creatures"; (d) "man."

First, amongst the animals, come those with undivided feet—elephant, horse, ass. Second, those with cloven feet—bull, goat, stag, etc. Third, those beasts that have many claws—lions, tigers, bears, etc.

To blazon animal charges, many special terms are required, describing their person, limbs, actions, attitudes, etc.

[pg 40]

"And as," says Guillim, "these beasts are to explain a history, they must be represented in that position which will best show it."

Fig. 38.Fig. 39.

Moreover, each beast was to be portrayed in its most characteristic attitude. Thus, a lion should be drawn erect with wide-open jaws and claws extended, as if "about to rend or tear." In this posture he is blazoned rampant (Fig. 38). A leopard must be represented going "step by step" fitting his natural disposition; he is then passant. A deer or lamb "being both gentle creatures," are said to be trippant (Fig. 39), and so on; the heraldic term varying, you understand, to suit the particular animal charge that is being blazoned. Living charges when represented on a shield must always, with rare exceptions, appear to be either looking or moving towards the dexter side of the shield (see Fig. 39). The right foot or claw is usually placed foremost as being the most honourable limb (see Fig. 38).

The elephant, having solid feet, is mentioned first, although the lion is really the only animal—if we except the boar's head—which occurs in the earliest armorial bearings. The Elphinstones charge their shield with an elephant passant, whilst the Prattes bear three elephants' heads erased. This term implies that they have been torn off and have ragged edges.

PLATE 4.

THE EARL OF SCARBOROUGH.

Arms.—Arg: a fesse gu: between 3 parrots vert collared of the second.
Crest.—A pelican in her piety.
Supporters.—Two parrots, wings inverted vert.
Motto.—Murus aēnēus conscientia sana.

[pg 41]

After describing this charge, Guillim rather comically gives us this story:

"An elephant of huge greatness was once carried in a show at Rome, and as it passed by a little boy pried into its proboscis. Thereupon, very much enraged, the beast cast the child up to a great height, but received him again on his snout and laid him gently down, as though he did consider that for a childish fault a childish fright was revenge enough."

Fig. 40.

Horses, of course, figure largely in armorial bearings. One, William Colt, bears three horses "at full speed" (Fig. 40). So also does Sir Francis Rush—probably in allusion to his name—whilst horses' heads couped—that is, cut off smoothly—occur very frequently. A demi-horse was granted as a crest to the Lane family in recognition of Mistress Jane Lane's heroism in riding from Staffordshire to the South Coast on a roan horse, with King Charles II. behind her, after the disastrous Battle of Worcester.

Donkeys were evidently at a discount with heralds. The families of Askewe and Ayscough bear three asses passant charged on their shield, and there is an ass's head in the arms of the Hokenhalls of Cheshire.

Oxen occur fairly often in heraldry. The Oxendens bear three oxen; three bulls occur in the arms of Anne [pg 42] Boleyn's father, the Lord of Hoo, whilst the same arms were given by Queen Elizabeth to her clockmaker, Randal Bull of London. The Veitchs bear three cows' heads erased, a rather uncommon charge, as female beasts were generally deemed unworthy of the herald's notice. The Veales bear three calves passant (Fig. 41), anent which Guillim adds: "Should these calves live to have horns, which differ either in metal or colour from the rest of their body, there must be special mention made of such difference in blazoning them." Hereby, he reminds us of the important rule for blazoning animals with horns and hoofs. Goats and goats' heads are often used in heraldry. A single goat passant is borne by one, Baker; three goats salient—leaping—occur in the Thorold arms, whilst the Gotley family—originally Goatley—charge a magnificent goat's head on their shield.

Fig. 41.

Bulls, goats, and rams, when their horns differ in tincture from the rest of their body, are blazoned "armed of their horns," these latter in their case being regarded as weapons. When, however, special mention is made of a stag's antlers, he is said to be "attired of his antlers," his horns being regarded as ornaments. (The branches of his antlers are termed tynes.)

Stags, as you would expect, are highly esteemed by the old heralds, who employed various terms in blazoning [pg 43] them. Thus, a stag in repose was "lodged," looking out of the field, "at gaze"; in rapid motion, he was "at speed" or "courant"; whilst, when his head was represented full face and showing only the face, it was blazoned as "cabossed" from the Spanish word for head. (Many of these terms we shall find in blazoning other animal charges.) Early heralds make careful distinction between a hind or calf, brockets, stags and harts. (A hind, you know, is the female, calf is the infant deer, brocket the two-year-old deer, stag the five-year-old, and hart the six-year-old deer.)

The Harthills very properly bear a "hart lodged on a hill;" a single stag, his back pierced by an arrow, occurs in the Bowen arms, and the Hynds bear three hinds. Three bucks "in full course" are borne by the Swifts. Deer's heads are very common charges, generally occurring in threes. In the coat of arms of the Duke of Wurtemberg and Teck, we find three antlers charged horizontally across the shield.

A reindeer is drawn in heraldry with double antlers, one pair erect and one drooping.

The boar was deemed a specially suitable badge for a soldier, who should rather die valorously upon the field than secure himself by ignominious flight. Both the Tregarthens and Kellets bear a single boar, whilst a boar's head, either singly or in threes, occurs very constantly in coats of arms. A boar is blazoned "armed of his tusk" or "armed and langued," when his tongue is shown of a different tincture. Moreover, as Mr. Fox-Davies [pg 44] reminds us in his interesting "Guide to Heraldry," an English boar's head is described as "couped" or erased "at the neck," but the Scotch herald would blazon the same charge as "couped and erased" "close."

The Earl of Vere takes a boar for his crest, in allusion to his name, verre being the Latin for boar.

The Grice family bear a wild boar, formerly called a "grice."

The Winram family bear a single ram, the Ramsays of Hitcham bear three rams on their shield.

A very pretty coat of arms belongs to the Rowes of Lamerton in Devon, "gu: three holy lambs with staff, cross and banner arg:."

Foremost amongst the beasts that have "many claws" is the lion; next to him come the tiger, leopard, bear, wolf, ranking more or less as the aristocrats amongst their kind, whilst the cat, fox, hare, etc., are placed far beneath them. Of all the animal charges, none is more popular amongst the heralds of all times and lands than the lion. Extraordinary care was taken to blazon the king of beasts befittingly. Fig. 38 has already shown you a "lion rampant," and so indispensable was this attitude considered by the early heralds to the proper representation of a lion, that if they were obliged to depict a "lion passant"—that is, "one that looked about him as he walked"—he was then blazoned as a leopard.

That is why the beasts in our national arms, although [pg 45] they are really lions and meant for such, are not called so, because their undignified attitude reduces them to the rank of heraldic leopards! A lion rampant—and other beasts of prey as well—is generally represented with tongue and claws of a different tincture from the rest of his person; he is then blazoned "langued and unguled," the latter term being derived from the Latin for a claw. A lion in repose is blazoned "couchant" when lying down with head erect and forepaws extended; he is "sejant"—sitting; seated with forepaws erect, he is "sejant rampant"; standing on all fours, he is "statant"—standing; standing in act to spring, he is "salient"—leaping; when his tail is forked and raised above his back, he is said to have a "queue fourchée"—literally a forked tail. (This last attitude is not often seen.) But when he is represented running across the field and looking back, then the heralds label the king of beasts "coward!"

A single lion is a very frequent charge, but two lions are rarer. The Hanmers of Flintshire, descended from Sir John Hanmer in the reign of Edward I., have two lions, and we find two lions "rampant combatant"—that is, clawing each other—"langued armed" in the Wycombe coat of arms; whilst one, Garrad of London, bears two lions "counter-rampant"—i.e., back to back, and very droll they look. Demi-lions rampant also occur in armorial bearings.

The different parts of a lion are much used; the head, either erased or couped, the face cabossed, the [pg 46] paws, borne either singly or in twos and threes, and lastly, we find the tail represented in various postures. The Corkes bear three lions' tails.

The tiger follows the lion and has terms of blazon peculiar to himself. Thus, the single tiger borne by Sir Robert Love is depicted as "tusked, maned and flasked." In the arms of the De Bardis family, a tigress is represented gazing into a mirror, which lies beside her on the ground. This odd charge alludes to the fable that a tigress, robbed of her whelps, may be appeased by seeing her own reflection in a glass. A tiger's head is used but seldom as a separate charge.

Apparently the bear stood higher in favour with the old heralds. The family of Fitzurse charge their shield with a single bear passant, the Barnards have a bear "rampant and muzzled," whilst the Beresfords' bear is both "muzzled and collared." The Berwycks bear a bear's head, "erased and muzzled," and three bears' heads appear in the arms of the Langham, Brock, and Pennarth families.

A wolf is borne by Sir Edward Lowe of Wilts, Sir Daniel Dun, and by the Woods of Islington. A wolf's head appears very early in armorial bearings; Hugh, surnamed Lupus, Earl of Chester and nephew of William I., used a wolf's head as his badge.

[pg 47]

ANIMAL CHARGES (continued)

After "ravenous fierce beastes," we come to dogs, foxes, cats, squirrels, etc. Sporting dogs are very favourite charges, and are frequently termed talbots in heraldry.¹

1:  Some writers consider that the term "talbot" was restricted to a mastiff, but sporting dogs—foxhounds, harriers, beagles, etc.—were certainly occasionally blazoned as talbots.

(A mastiff with short ears was termed an alant.)

The Carricks and Burgoynes bear one talbot on their shield, whilst the Talbot family have three talbots passant.

The Earl of Perth has a "sleuthhound, collared and leashed" for his crest; that of the Biscoe family is a greyhound seizing a hare. A dog chasing another animal must be blazoned either "in full course" or "in full chase." A foxhound nosing the ground is described as "a hound on scent."

The fox rarely figures in heraldry. One Kadrod-Hard of Wales bore two "reynards counter salient," and "the Wylies do bear that wylie beast, the fox"; whilst three foxes' heads erased are borne respectively by the Foxes of Middlesex and one Stephen Fox, of Wilts.

A fox's face is blazoned a "mask."

Cats occur fairly often in heraldry. "Roger Adams and John Hills, both of the City of London," we are [pg 48] told, "bear cats"; Sir Jonathan Keats charges three "cats-a-mountain"—wild cats—upon his shield, as also do the Schives of Scotland; the Dawson-Damer's crest is a tabby cat with a rat in her mouth. She would be blazoned as preying.

The dog, fox, and cat have each their typical meaning in heraldry. The dog symbolizes courage, fidelity, affection, and sagacity; the fox, great wit and cunning; the cat, boldness, daring, and extraordinary foresight, so that whatever happens she always falls on her feet. She was formerly the emblem of liberty, and was borne on the banners of the ancient Alans and Burgundians to show that they brooked no servitude.

The squirrel is rather a favourite charge, notably in the arms of landed gentry—such as the Holts, Woods, Warrens—because the little nut-cracker is typical of parks and woodland property. It occurs either singly or in pairs or trios. It is always represented sejant, and usually cracking nuts, as seen in the arms of the Nuthall family.

A hedgehog usually figures in the arms of the Harris, Harrison, Herries, and Herrison families, and is undoubtedly borne in allusion to their surname, hérisson being the French for hedgehog. Lord Malmesbury—family name Harris—bears a hedgehog in his coat of arms. It is generally blazoned as an "urcheon" in heraldry. The hare occurs but rarely in English arms; the Clelands bear one as a single charge, and the Trussleys charge their shield with three little hares playing bagpipes, probably in allusion to the hare's traditional love of music. The rabbit—known to heralds as a coney—is oftener met with in armorial bearings; the Strodes of Devon bear three conies couchant; the Conesbies, three conies sejant; the Cunliffes, three conies courant.

PLATE 5.

BARON HAWKE.

Arms.—A chevron erminois between three pilgrim's staves purpure.
Crest.—A hawk, wings displayed and inverted ppr.
belled and charged on the breast with a fleur de lys or.
Supporters.—Dexter, Neptune, Sinister, a Sea-horse.
Motto.—Strike.

[pg 49]

Three moles are borne by Sir John Twistledon, of Dartford, Kent—a mole was sometimes blazoned "moldiwarp"—whilst the Rattons very aptly bear a rat.

We cannot say much of the toads,² tortoises, serpents, grasshoppers, spiders, and snails which occur in heraldry.

2:  The legend which connects toads with the fleur-de-lys in the arms of France is too well known to need repetition here.

The Gandys of Suffolk bear a single tortoise passant, and a tortoise erected occurs on the Coopers' coat of arms.

Serpents are blazoned in terms peculiar to themselves. Thus, a serpent coiled, is said to be nowed—knotted—from the French nœud, a knot; when upright on its tail, it is erect; gliding, it is glissant also from the French; when biting its tail, it is blazoned embowed. The Falconers bear a "serpent embowed"; one Natterley has an "adder nowed"—natter is the German for adder—and Sir Thomas Couch of London charges an adder "curling and erect" upon his shield.

To the Greek, the grasshopper signified nobility; hence amongst the Athenians a golden grasshopper worn in the hair was the badge of high lineage. In later [pg 50] days the heralds considered the grasshopper a type of patriotism, "because in whatever soil a grasshopper is bred, in that will he live and die."

Spiders were not only held symbolical of industry, but they were highly esteemed for their supposed properties of healing.³

3:  As regards the spider's curative powers, Mr. Thistleton Dyer, in his "Folklore of Shakespeare," tells us that only "a few years ago a lady in Ireland was famous for curing ague with a large house-spider swallowed alive, thickly coated with treacle."

One family of Shelleys bears three "house-snails" so termed in heraldry to imply that they carry their shells. A type of deliberation in business matters and perseverance is supposed to be furnished by the common snail.

The "creatures that live above the earth"—i.e., having wings—come next.

Fig. 42.

Various heraldic terms are in use for blazoning bird charges—viz.:

A bird flying is "volant" (Fig. 42); preparing to fly, is "rising" (Fig. 44); when its wings are spread open, they are "displayed"; when folded, they are "close (see Fig. 43)." Birds of prey and barn-door cocks are "armed." Thus, the eagle is blazoned as "armed of his beak and talons"; the cock as "armed of his beak and spurs"; he is also blazoned as "combed and jellopped"—that is, with his crest and wattles. An eagle or any other bird of prey devouring [pg 51] its prey is described as "preying." In blazoning a very old eagle, the French heralds use a special term, pamé;⁴ our English equivalent would be "exhausted," thereby alluding to the popular notion that with advancing age an eagle's beak becomes so hooked that it is unable to take any nourishment, and so dies of inanition. Birds that have web feet and no talons are usually blazoned "membred." A swan with her wings raised is said to be "expansed"; a peacock with his tail displayed is said to be "in his pride" (Fig. 45); with folded tail he is a peacock "close." A pelican feeding her young is a "pelican in her piety" (see Plate III.); when wounding her breast, she is said to be "vulning." The crane is another bird which enjoys a blazoning term which is all its own—namely, "a crane in its vigilance." It is so described when, as in the Cranstoun arms, it is represented holding a stone in its foot. This charge refers to the old myth, that a crane on duty as a sentinel always holds a stone in its foot, so that in the event of its dropping asleep the sound of the falling stone may act as an alarum.

4:  The word pamé should be restricted to an expiring fish.

Falcons are blazoned "armed, jessed and belled." A falcon is usually called "goshawk" in heraldry.

Swans, geese, ducks, and other web-footed birds occur rarely in heraldry. The Moore family bear one swan, the Mellishes two, and three swans' necks are charged upon the Lacys' shield. One, John Langford, bears a single wild goose. Three wild duck volant [pg 52] appear in the arms of the Woolrich family. Three drakes—a very favourite charge—are borne by the Yeos. The Starkeys bear one stork, the Gibsons three.

Fig. 43.

Three herons occur in the arms of Heron, one kingfisher in those of one, Christopher Fisher (Fig. 43). Viscount Cullen, whose family name is Cockayne, bears three cocks; three capons are borne by the Caponhursts; whilst, drolly enough, three cocks are borne by the Crow family. The Alcocks bear three cocks' heads.

Eagles are of such wide and constant occurrence in heraldry that we cannot attempt to do justice to them here. A single eagle is borne by the Earls of Dalhousie and Southesk, and by seven families of Bedingfield. A double-headed eagle was rather a favourite charge, and coats of arms displaying as many as six eagles are very commonly met with. But an eagle blazoned "close" is a rare charge.⁵ Parts of an eagle, such as head, wings, talons, and legs often appear in armorial bearings as separate charges. Ostrich feathers, by the way, are also introduced into heraldry, but the ostrich itself is of very seldom occurrence.⁶ Its introduction into heraldry, [pg 53] dates from the time of the Crusaders, when Europeans first saw the bird. An ostrich is usually represented with a horseshoe in its mouth, because it was a popular idea that an ostrich could digest iron.⁷ In Sir Titus Salt's arms we find a demi-ostrich holding a horseshoe in its beak. Lord Churston's shield is supported on the right by an ostrich with a horseshoe in its beak, as is Lord Carysfort's, but his ostrich is represented with a key in its beak.

5:  The eagle was sometimes called "alerion" by the early heralds and when blazoned as such was usually represented with neither legs nor beak.

6:  One Jervis, the principal founder of Exbridge, in Devon, bore six ostrich feathers, and in the heraldry of to-day they are occasionally met with as charges. The Fetherstons bear three ostrich feathers on their shield, and the Earl of Devon has seven ostrich feathers in his crest.

We are all familiar with the Prince of Wales's plumes, but to go farther back into history, we find that a plume of ostrich feathers was often used by King Stephen as his badge, with the motto of his own making: "Vi nulla invertitur ordo"—"No force alters their fashion"—in allusion to the "fold fall of the feather," which was neither shaken nor disordered by the wind, and therefore symbolized the condition of well-ordered kings and kingdoms.

In bygone times, we are told, "some doubted whether an ostrich should be reckoned as a beast or a fowl"!

7:  "I'll make thee eat iron like an ostrich."
King Henry VI.

Fig. 44.

Three hawks are borne by the Hawksworths; the Corbets bear a raven as a single charge, whilst Dr. Raven, Queen Anne's physician, bears a raven rising (Fig. 44). The swallow, which is the heraldic martlet (see No. 4, Fig. 36), occurs repeatedly as a charge in coats of arms, very often in threes; six is also [pg 54] a favourite number. The Wardes and Temples bear five; the Chadwicks and Brownlows charge the orle of their shield with eight martlets. The Pawne family bear three peacocks "in their pride" (see Fig. 45), and this same charge occurs in the arms of the Peacocks of Durham. A phœnix is borne by the Fenwicks. The dove occurs occasionally in heraldry. A dove with an olive branch in its beak was added as an augmentation of honour to his paternal arms by one Walker, when he married the only child of Sir David Gam. This charge was granted to Sir David after the Battle of Agincourt, where he took the Duc de Nevers prisoner. It was this same Sir David who, on being sent by the king to view the French Army before the battle, brought word to his royal master that "there were men enough to kill, enough to run away, and enough to make prisoners."

Fig. 45.

Besides the birds already mentioned, the parrot, turkey, owl, chough, pheasant, woodcock, and several others occur in heraldry.

Amongst winged insects, we find the bee in the arms of the Bye family, whilst the Rowes of Cheshire bear a beehive, surrounded by buzzing bees.⁸ The bee was [pg 55] considered an honourable charge, symbolizing loyalty to the chief, thrift and industry.⁹

8:  Lord Lansdowne uses "a beehive beset with bees" as one of his crests.

9:  In blazoning the bee, Guillim cannot resist reminding his reader of the old saw:

The Burninghills bear three gadbees—horseflies—and the Papillons, very properly, have three butterflies charged on their shield (Fig. 46).

In concluding this chapter let us explain the term augmentation used above.

By augmentation is meant any addition granted for some special reason, to a coat of arms. Thus to one, William Compton, who was about Henry VIII. and in great favour with him, the King actually granted permission to add a lion passant guardant, taken out of his own royal device, to his paternal arms, as an "honourable augmentation." "In rememberance whereof," says Sir William Dugdale, "the said Compton at his death bequeathed to the king a little chest of ivory, whereof the lock was gilt, with a chessboard under, and a pair of tables upon it."

Fig. 46.

The arms of Sir Atwel-King Lake show a curious augmentation—viz., a dexter arm embowed—bent—issuing from the sinister side of the shield, holding in the hand a sword erect, thereto affixed a banner, bearing a cross between sixteen escutcheons, etc. These sixteen [pg 56] escutcheons were given to the original bearer of these arms, Dr. Edward Lake, a devoted adherent of Charles I., to commemorate the sixteen wounds that Lake received at the Battle of Naseby.

Lord Nelson was granted a very pictorial augmentation of honour. "Waves or the sea, from which a palm-tree issues between a disabled ship on the dexter and a battery in ruins on the sinister." Nelson had also a crest of an "honourable augmentation," which he bore in addition to that of his family. A naval crown with the chelengk, or plume of triumph, presented to him by the Grand Sultan, Selim III.

The augmentation of honour granted to the great Duke of Wellington took the shape of the Union Jack charged upon an inescutcheon, which was superimposed upon his own shield.

ANIMAL CHARGES (continued)

Fish occur rarely in heraldry, for although they were considered typical of unfailing industry and vigilance, "always swimming against the stream and never falling asleep," yet they were held in far less esteem by the heralds of old than either the "earthy or airy creatures."

Fish have, of course, their own heraldic terms for blazoning—viz.:

[pg 57]

Fig. 47.

A fish charged horizontally upon the field, is "naiant"—swimming (Fig. 47); perpendicularly with its head upwards, it is "hauriant" (Fig. 48)—literally, taking a draught; when placed vertically with its head downwards, it is "uriant"—diving; with undimmed eyes, it is "allumé"—alight; when gasping with wide-open mouth, it is "pamé"—exhausted. A fish is also blazoned as "finned of its fins," and when (as is always the case with the dolphin) its tail curves towards the head, it is "embowed." If the fish is feeding, it must be described as "vorant"—devouring—because watery creatures always swallow their prey whole. When two or three fish of the same kind are represented on a field swimming in opposite directions, they are blazoned as "contra-naiant"—swimming against each other.

Mr. Fox-Davies quotes an example of this charge in the arms of Peebles, where one salmon is depicted swimming towards the dexter side of the shield, whilst two are swimming towards the sinister. This charge alludes evidently to the popular idea that for each salmon that ascends the river to spawn, two salmon return to the sea.

When an eel is borne on a shield, it is always represented in a wavy form and is usually blazoned "ondoyant"—literally, wavy.

Fig. 48.Fig. 49.

Fish charges almost always come under the head of [pg 58] "canting heraldry,"¹ so that they mostly repeat the name of their bearer, or, at any rate, carry a very direct allusion to it. This is the case with the families of Dolphin, Godolphin, Salmon, Sole (Fig. 48), Herring, Herringham, Bream, Roach, Sprat, Ellis (who bear three eels) and Troutbeck (who have three trouts). These latter are blazoned "fretted in a triangle, tête-à-queue"—literally, "netted head to tail," whilst we are reminded that the old name for pike was luce, when we see pikes borne by the Lucy family. Crabbe of Robslaw bears one crab; the Prawnes, as you would expect, bear prawns; and the Tregarthens of Cornwall have "lobster claws saltire-wise, gules," that last word implying that the luckless owner of those claws had been clearly boiled (Fig. 49)!

1:  "Canting heraldry" is derived from the French armes chantantes or armes parlantes, meaning, literally, arms that speak.

Fig. 50.

The escallop shell, being pre-eminently the pilgrim badge, was given a very honourable place in heraldry, and occurs in the arms of many of our highest nobility, notably in those of the Dukes of Bedford, Marlborough and [pg 59] Montrose. One branch of the Shelley family bears three escallop shells (Fig. 50), and a lion between escallop shells is a common charge. One William Moffat bears a lion between eight escallop shells.²

2:  Escallop shells are represented in such infinitely varied devices and in so many coats of arms that some lovers of heraldry make this charge a special study.

A fish with a ring in its mouth occurs fairly often in heraldry, and owes its origin probably to the many old legends associating fish with coins, rings, gems, etc. The arms of the Bishopric of Glasgow, where a salmon and a ring are depicted, are said to allude to the fable of the distracted bride, who, having dropped her wedding ring into the River Clyde, besought St. Kentigern, Bishop of Glasgow, to help her to recover it. In answer to the Prelate's prayers, a salmon was taken in due time, with the lady's ring between his jaws.

And now at last we have reached those charges connected with that "most noble creature, man," who, as we are told, "is borne in heraldic achievements both limbwise and entire. And as a man should be represented in his greatest dignity, a king should be depicted on his throne, a bishop in his robes, a soldier in military habit, and so on."

In the royal arms of Seville, we find "a crowned and sceptered king on his seat royal," wearing his ermine cape, but as a matter of fact, the whole human figure occurs very rarely as a charge in a coat of arms.

"A wild man of the woods, with a garland round his [pg 60] head and waist and a club on his shoulder, standing between two forest trees," is charged on the shield of the Mayo family, and Basil Wood bears three demi-savages, each with a club. Human heads and limbs are more frequently used.

Sir Richard Griffith bore three Englishmen's heads "in profile, couped at the head and bearded"; the Tanners of Cornwall bear three Moors' heads couped. Three infants' heads are charged on the Fauntleroy shield "couped arg: crined or," crined being the heraldic word for blazoning hair. The Vaughans have a very odd coat of arms—viz., three children's heads "couped, each enwrapped about the neck with a serpent." (Ghastly as that arrangement sounds, the children look out at you with remarkably gleeful countenances!)

One Black bears three men's heads with black hair, and the De la Haye family has the rare charge of three eyes.

The human heart is much used in heraldry. Henry de Wingham bears a winged heart, and the shield of the Heart family is charged with three hearts.

The Cornhills bear a left hand and arm, whilst an arm grasping the stump of an uprooted tree is appropriately borne by Armstrong. Very literal arms are borne by the Tremaynes—viz., three right arms with clenched fists, forming a triangle.

A dexter hand is a fairly common charge. Two arms seizing the head, or pole, of a hart are borne by the [pg 61] Catchpoles, and three hands occur in the armorial bearings of the Maynards of Medstone and those of Wicklow, as also in the coat of arms of the Maynes of Bucks. The Quartermaynes bear four right hands (Fig. 51).

Amongst other families, the Haddens and Shrigleys bear a human leg.

In conclusion, we must mention what Guillim calls "amphibious and exorbitant creatures," which figure as charges in heraldry. Under the amphibious charges we have the beaver, seal, otter, and others. With the beaver we are fairly familiar, as nowadays it occurs so frequently in the armorial bearings of persons connected in any way with Canada. It is well represented in the arms of Lord Strathcona.

Fig. 51.

The otter is borne by the Setons of Mounie, and also occurs as a supporter in the arms of Lord Balfour of Burleigh.

As to what Guillim calls "exorbitant creatures," or, so to speak, monsters, we may mention the wyvern, a species of dragon; the griffin, supposed to have the body and claws of a lion, with the hooked beak, piercing eyes, and wings of an eagle; the dragon; the unicorn, whose appearance is too well known to need description; the cockatrice; the mermaid; the sea-dog, or marine wolf; and, lastly, the harpy. Three wyverns are borne by the Drake family, and two fiendish-looking [pg 62] wyverns act as supporters to the shield of Lord Clifford of Chudleigh.

The red dragon is, of course, the badge of Wales; and three dragons' heads are borne by the Stanleys. The heraldic dragon is always represented as a winged monster with four legs.

With the unicorn, the sinister supporter of our Royal Arms, every child is well acquainted. It represents Scotland, the royal shield of that country being supported by two unicorns. Of all the mythical creatures, it is perhaps the favourite in our heraldry. Not only does it occur repeatedly as a supporter, notably in the armorial bearings of Lord Chetwynd, Lord Colchester, and Lord Manners, who each have two unicorns, but we find it constantly represented on coats of arms.

According to some old writers, it was deemed a very honourable charge, because, no one ever having succeeded in capturing this fabulous creature, either dead or alive, they account for this stubborn fact in the following cunning fashion: "The unicorn hath too much greatness of mind to suffer himself to be taken alive, choosing rather to die than to be taken captive." Therefore, a unicorn was considered a very suitable charge for a warrior, who should, of course, share that creature's "greatness of mind."

The Farrington family bear three unicorns; and the unicorn's head is not uncommon in coats of arms. The Goston family bear one as a single charge; one [pg 63] Anthony Smith, bears two; whilst three are borne by a family of Shelley.

The griffin is very common in heraldry, either as a crest or a supporter. Lord Churchill of Wychwood has a griffin for his crest and one for his dexter supporter.

The cockatrice, "a little king amongst serpents," is borne by the Bogan family, whilst one Ellis bears a mermaid, crined or, with a mirror in one hand and a comb in the other (a veritable Loreley!).

Three sea-dogs, or marine wolves, are borne by one John Fenner.

And, lastly, we find in Guillim's work the presentment of a harpy as a charge on a coat of arms—a monster with a woman's head, hair, and face, and the body, legs, and wings of a vulture, her "wings displayed and hair flottant." As to the name of the bearer of this hideous charge, the old herald is discreetly silent.

INANIMATE OBJECTS AS CHARGES

Under this heading so many and such various objects are included that we cannot attempt to mention one half of the items in this miscellaneous collection. First come crowns, mitres, croziers (a crozier is borne by an Irish family of that name), swords, maces, etc., all of which represent estate and dignity. Then come books, [pg 64] billets, pens (one Cowpen bears three pens), single letters of the alphabet, notably Y and T (three T's are borne by the Tofte family), musical instruments—i.e., violin, organ-pipes, harp, etc. (the harp appears in the arms of one Harpham).

Musical instruments signified that their bearers were "men of a well-composed and tempered judgment"; whilst the Book symbolized primarily the Word of Life; the pen, the wisdom of the learned; and the single letters stood for the thoughts of absent or silent scholars.

In the Conroy arms, the field is charged with "an ancient book, open, indexed, edged or." This charge represents the honourable and hereditary office of Leanachie bard and herald to the O'Connors, Kings of Connaught. The motto under the coat of arms signifies that "history once written in this book cannot be destroyed by time." It was the privilege of the ancient bard of the tribe "to stand alone with the new-made King upon the sacred mount of Carn Fraoich and there to deliver into his hands the white wand or sceptre of royalty."

Mechanical objects follow next—ploughs, harrows (the Harrows bear three harrows), scythes, spades, cartwheels (the latter occur in the arms of Carter and Cartwright). These are all typical of husbandry, and suggest agricultural industry on the part of the original bearers. Chaucer's son-in-law, Sir Payne Roet—derived doubtless, from the French rouet, a wheel—bore three [pg 65] wheels on his shield, and in blazoning this coat of arms (Fig. 52), Guillim quotes Pliny's fable of the Roman farmer who was accused to the authorities of being a magician, because his fields were fruitful, whilst those of his neighbour were barren.

Fig. 52.

"Wait," said the farmer, "and I will show you my conjuring tools;" and therewith he produced his plough and a cartwheel. From this anecdote we gather that Sir Payne Roet must have been distinguished as an agriculturist.

Then come the implements for making clothes as well as some items of dress. Wool-cards are borne by the Cardingtons; shuttles by the Shuttleworths; Sir John Maunsel bears three maunches (sleeves); the Bartlelots, gloves; the Hose family bear stockings; the Arthurs of Ireland three boots, blazoned as "three Irish brogues"; the Huths have a hat (hut being the German for hat).

One family of Palmers charges their shield with three palmer's staves; another has a pilgrim's scrip. The Spences bear three penny-pieces, this latter charge symbolizing commerce.

Workman's tools—pickaxes, hammers, levels, squares, hatchets, nails, plummets, etc.—had all great heraldic significance. The pickaxe was to remind its bearer "whence he was digged"; the level that his actions must be justified by the rule of reason and justice; [pg 66] the square taught the cultivation of an even judgment; the nails, fixity of purpose; the plummet, prudence in fathoming the problems of life.

The objects wrought by these tools follow. First, come works of masonry.

One Oldcastle bears a "tower triple-towered"; Sir Edward Mansel, a tower with a scaling ladder against it; whilst three castles occur in the arms of the Scarborough family. The heralds, be it noted, made a great distinction between a tower and a castle, when charging either upon a shield. For, whereas a tower must never occupy the whole of the field, a castle "extendeth itself all over the shield from one side to the other." Three arches are borne by the Archers; the Trowbridges bear a bridge.

Keys occur fairly often, being borne either singly or in threes. The Bells very properly bear bells, and these latter we also find in the Dobell coat of arms, which affords an excellent example of canting heraldry (Fig. 53). One, Stratford, bears three trestles meant to imply their bearer's love of hospitality.

Fig. 53.

Amongst other inanimate charges are flesh-pots, bellows, lamps. The Lamplaws bear three lamps; cups are borne by Bowles, Warcupp, and Butler; dishes are borne by the Standish family (a boar's head in a golden dish was a rather favourite charge), as were also clocks, watches, dials, etc.

[pg 67]

Next we find ships and all things pertaining to them.

The Earl of Caithness bears a ship; the Cavells bear three sails; the Chappels have an anchor. Three anchors are a fairly common charge.

Objects connected with hunting, hawking, and fishing come next. The Hatheways bear a hunter's horn; the Langhornes three bugles; the Plankes, three hawk-bells, whilst a lure with a line and ring, "all a falconer's decoy," are borne by one, Lie, "a suitable name, seeing that a falconer is ever used to deceive." Three mascles, representing the meshes of a net, are borne by the Belgraves, whilst a net enclosing three sturgeons is introduced into the Sturgeons' coat of arms, and is blazoned as a "fret." The Medvilles bear three fishing-hooks.

Now we come to objects associated with games—chessmen, dice, balls, etc. One of Charles V.'s generals bore as his arms a ball with two balloons, with the motto, "The harder I am struck, the higher I mount."

Then we have military weapons and implements, cannon, battering-rams, swords, lances, as well as banners, drums, trumpets, clarions, etc.

Guillim blazons the Earl of Cumberland's arms as "three murthering shots." One Bowman bears three bows, whilst arrows¹ and swords are of constant occurrence, [pg 68] the latter borne either singly or crossed salter-wise.

1:  An arrow has its peculiar terms of blazon. It is armed of its head, flighted of its feathers, whilst a bundle of arrows is a sheaf. An arrow with a blunt head is known in heraldry as a "bird-bolt."

On the Earl of Lindsey's shield there are three battering-rams in the first and fourth quarters, and a shattered "castle triple-towered" is represented in the second and third quarters. The origin of this unusual coat of arms is historical. One Robert Bertie, afterwards created Earl of Lindsey, was serving in the army, which, during Queen Elizabeth's reign, laid siege to Cadiz under the Earl of Essex's command. When the English troops made a furious onslaught on the gates of the city, every inhabitant within its walls strove to drive back the enemy, the old women flinging down heavy stones from the ramparts. One of these missiles felled young Bertie to the ground, so that when, after the taking of Cadiz, the youth was knighted for his gallant conduct that day, the newly made knight exclaimed: "The squire was knocked down by an old woman with a stone, but the general bade him arise a knight."

All kinds of escutcheons were also charged upon a shield, as well as helmets and gauntlets. Trophies and tokens of martial victory also occur in heraldry, such as chaplets, torses—the wreath surrounding the helmet—along with the more melancholy charges—fetters, shackles, chains, denoting the subjection and captivity of the vanquished.

Bridles, bits, buckles, and stirrups are of frequent occurrence in heraldry. Lord Stanhope bears three [pg 69] stirrups, buckles, and straps, whilst spurs are borne very appropriately by the Knights.

Before closing this chapter we must mention that besides the charges emblazoned on the shield, which we have been considering at some length, a coat of arms has certain accessory ornaments. These are known as the crest, helmet, mantling, supporters—we have spoken of the latter elsewhere—scrolls,² and mottoes. The crest,³ which is the only part of armorial bearings which is in constant use, is the device placed above an escutcheon, and originally worn upon a helmet, but it now occurs on a coronet, wreath, or cap.

2:  The ribbon bearing the motto is called heraldically "escroll"—scroll.

3:  "Crest" is obviously derived from crista, a bird's comb or crest. Its heraldic term is "cognizance," because the crest worn upon his helmet served to insure recognition of a leader by his followers on the battle-field.

As regards the representing of helmets in armorial bearings, the following rules must be noted: A king's helmet must be gold, six-barred, full face, and open; a duke's helmet is steel with five gold bars, and set slightly in profile; baronets and knights have also steel helmets with no bars—these must be drawn full faced with visor raised; steel helmets are also used by esquires, visor down, with gold ornaments and represented in profile. Full-faced helmets denote authority, side-faced ones symbolize attention and obedience towards superiors.

Mantling or lambrequin is the term used for the mantle [pg 70] or a piece of scarf-like drapery, attached to the helmet and showing jagged and torn edges to suggest the cuts received in battle. Generally, however, we find the mantling in heraldry takes the shape of graceful flowing outlines.

In the motto we have, no doubt, the survival of the war-cries; many (besides expressing the name of the bearer or some allusion to the charges on the coat of arms)⁴ contain very interesting historical references—viz., the "Grip Fast" of the Earl of Rothes recalls how his ancestor rescued the good Queen Margaret from the river, where she and her palfrey were drowning, and exhorted her to "grip fast" to his belt.

4:  As, for instance, "Fare fac," the Fairfax motto, or the Weare's motto, "Sumus"—we are—whilst the motto of the Clerks of Penicuik, "Free for a blast," alludes to their crest, a man blowing a horn. This refers to the odd condition under which the Barony of Penicuik is held—viz., that the proprietor must sit on a piece of rock called the Buckstone, and wind three blasts of a horn whenever the sovereign shall come to hunt on the Borough Muir, near Edinburgh.

The motto is generally placed beneath the escutcheon, but we sometimes find it above the crest.

QUARTERING AND MARSHALLING

In these "Peeps at Heraldry," we can only glance at much that should still be mentioned if space permitted.

We must say something, however, about quartering [pg 71] and marshalling, two very important departments in heraldry.

Hitherto, we have dealt with shields bearing only one coat of arms, but now we must speak of those which bear more than one.

Quartering means dividing the shield into quarters, so that several coats of arms may be represented on the same escutcheon. Fig. 54 shows the simplest form of quartering—viz., by two lines, fess-wise and pale-wise. This arrangement gives room for four different coats of arms, but if it is necessary to represent more than four, the shield is further cut up into the requisite number of divisions, then blazoned according to that number—e.g., "quarterly by eight," "by twelve," and so forth. It also sometimes happens that in a shield already quartered, each quarter has to be quartered again, and this arrangement is known in heraldry as "compound quartering." The four original quarters are then blazoned as "grand quarters," the secondary ones as "quarterly quarterings."

Fig. 54.

One of the chief uses of quartering is to record the alliances between different families, generally made through marriage.

(The arms of the Duke of Portland afford a good example of a shield bearing a record of such alliances. For in the first and fourth grand quarters quarterly we find the arms of the Bentincks—the original family [pg 72] arms; in the second and third quarterlies the Cavendish arms appear; whilst on the second and third grand quarters the arms of Scott are represented, thus recording the alliance of the house of Bentinck with those of Cavendish and Scott.)

A husband may only add the arms of his wife's family to his own when she is heiress or co-heiress of her own line. He then bears those arms on what is called an "escutcheon of pretence," which he charges on his own family coat. All the sons of an heiress or co-heiress may use their mother's arms after she is dead as quarterings with those of their father, dividing the shield as in Fig. 54 and placing their paternal arms in the first and fourth quarters and their maternal in the second and third.

When three coats of arms are to be represented on a shield, the most important occupies the first and fourth quarters. A familiar example of this is furnished by the royal arms of Great Britain, where we see the lions of England in the first and fourth quarters, the lion rampant of Scotland in the second, and the harp of Ireland in the third.

The Earl of Pembroke, in 1348, was the first subject, so Mr. Hulme tells us, who quartered his arms.

When a great number of quarterings are charged upon the shield, the order in which these quarterings are marshalled¹ or arranged is very important, the original arms being always placed in the upper dexter of the field—that being the most honourable point—and the other arms following in the sequence in which they were introduced into the family coat of arms.

1:  Marshalling means the art of grouping or arranging various coats of arms on one and the same shield.

PLATE 6.

SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL.

Arms.—Arg. on mount vert, representation of the 40 ft. reflecting
telescope with its apparatus ppr. on a chief az: the astronomical
symbol of Uranus irradiated or.
Crest.—A demi terrestrial sphere ppr. thereon an eagle,
wings elevated or.
Motto.—Cœlis exploratis.

[pg 73]

There were two methods of marshalling in early heraldry. One was known as "dimidation," which means cutting a coat of arms in half, pale-wise, and matching it with another half of another coat of arms, so as to make one achievement of the two joined halves. Thus, when a wife's arms were to be represented on the same shield as her husband's, both coats were halved, and then placed upon the shield, the husband's arms occupying the right side, and those of the wife the left.

As you can imagine, however, the result of this chopping and joining was seldom satisfactory and sometimes very comical, as, for example, in the arms of Yarmouth, where half a lion is running to join half a herring!

The second method of marshalling was by impalement. This term means the joining together of different coats of arms by a pale.

Fig. 55.

In this arrangement the shield was divided pale-wise as before (Fig. 55 shows the shield divided ready to receive the two coats), but the whole of each coat was crowded respectively into each side of the shield, the right side being charged with the husband's arms, the left with his wife's. [pg 74] Naturally, however, in order to suit this arrangement, the arms suffered a certain amount of alteration.

Nowadays, according to Mr. Fox-Davies, the following rules are observed with regard to the arms of man and wife—viz.: "If the wife is not an heraldic heiress the two coats are impaled. If the wife be an heraldic heiress or co-heir, in lieu of impalement, the arms of her family are placed on an escutcheon, being termed an 'escutcheon of pretence,' because ... the husband pretends to the representation of her family."

A widow may have the coat of arms borne by her husband and herself marshalled, not on a shield, but on a lozenge, whilst an unmarried daughter may bear her father's arms on a lozenge also, but without a crest.

Finally, under the head of marshalling comes the arrangement of all the accessories, of the shield of which we spoke in our last chapter.

FIVE COATS OF ARMS

In this chapter we must say a few words about the five "achievements" which are shown in the coloured plates. These represent respectively the armorial bearings of a duke, marquess, earl, baron, and baronet.¹

1:  We have to apologize to our readers for the omission—owing to want of space—of an example of the armorial bearings of a viscount.

To begin with No. 1.

[pg 75]

This coat of arms belongs to the Duke of Leinster, and should be blazoned—as you will know by this time—viz.: "Arg : a saltier gu : crest, a monkey statant ppr : environed about the middle with a plain collar and chained or. ; supporters, two monkeys, environed and chained as the crest"; motto, "Crom aboo"—literally "Crom to victory," Crom being the name of an old castle belonging to the Fitzgeralds.

Now, in this achievement the trio of monkeys tell the story, not of their bearer's grand deeds, but of the noble feat performed by one of their own ancestors. And this is the monkey's story:

Long, long ago, in the reign of Edward I., John Fitz-Thomas Fitzgerald (later first Earl of Kildare,² but at that time only an infant), was staying in the Castle of Woodstock, when the building suddenly broke into flames. In the first panic caused by the fire no one remembered the poor baby lying helpless in his cradle; but when, later on, some of the servants went back to search for him, they found only the smouldering remains of his cradle on the charred floor of the burnt-out nursery. Distracted with remorse, they wandered about the smoking ruins, vainly seeking for the child. Suddenly, a queer chattering attracted their attention to one of the high, blackened towers of the castle, and there, outlined against the sky, stood the pet ape of the household, holding the baby boy safe and sound in his [pg 76] long, hairy arms! On this occasion, the monkey had put his betters to shame, and had saved the helpless life which they had left to perish.

2:  The eldest son of the Duke of Leinster is the Marquess of Kildare.

In gratitude for that monkey's devotion, John Fitzgerald adopted a monkey for his crest, whilst two additional apes act as supporters to the Duke of Leinster's shield. Thus, you see, in this case it is the golden deed of a far-away monkey that heraldry keeps alive.

The arms of the Marquess of Hertford are very pretty ones, and afford a good example of the use of the pile as an augmentation of honour. It is introduced into the first and fourth grand quarters, bearing the charge of three lions, whilst the second and third quarters are occupied by two wings conjoined by lure. These arms, being precisely the same as those of the Duke of Somerset, serve to remind us that the Marquess of Hertford, whose family name is also Seymour, is a descendant from one and the same ancestor. For whereas the wings in the coat of arms represent the armorial bearings of the Seymours, the pile was an augmentation of honour granted by Henry VIII. to Sir John Seymour on the occasion of the King's marriage with Lady Jane Seymour, his daughter. The same crest, a phœnix rising out of flames surmounting a ducal coronet, does duty for both achievements, but whereas the Duke of Somerset's supporters are a unicorn and a bull, the Marquess of Hertford has two blackamoors, which are blazoned—viz., "wreathed about the temples or, sa : habited in short golden [pg 77] garments; adorned about the waist with green and red feathers; each holding in his exterior hand a shield, az : garnished or, the dexter charged with the 'sun in splendour,' gold, the other with a crescent, silver. Motto, 'Fide et amore'—'With faith and love.'"

The Earl of Scarborough's coat of arms shows no quarterings. Here the field is divided fesswise and charged with three parrots (they are usually termed popinjays in heraldry). A pelican in her piety is the crest, whilst we find parrots again with wings inverted as supporters. These arms are of great antiquity, having been adopted by Sir Marmaduke Lumley, who derived them from his mother, Lucia, co-heiress of the ancient house of Thweng in the beginning of the fourteenth century. Their motto is, "A sound conscience is a wall of brass."

Baron Hawke's achievement hints very plainly at the grand naval feats performed by the founder of the house, Edward Hawke, the gallant sailor, who, at the early age of thirty-one, was made Admiral of the White. His brilliant victory over the French in 1747, when he captured six large ships of the enemy's line, is matter of history. His arms are "Arg : a chevron erminois between three pilgrims' staves purple, the crest, a hawk rising, beaked, belled, and charged on the breast with fleur-de-lys or ; whilst most appropriately the supporters of this naval hero's shield are—dexter supporter, Neptune in a sea-green mantle, crowned with an eastern coronet or, his dexter arm [pg 78] erect, darting downwards his trident sa : headed silver, resting his sinister foot on a dolphin, also sable ; sinister supporter, a sea-horse, sustaining in his fore-fins a banner, arg : the staff broken ppr." Motto, "Strike."

The fifth coat of arms, a very pictorial one, was assumed by the great astronomer and musician, Sir William Herschel, and serves as our example of a baronet's armorial bearings.

(You will note that it has no supporters, and that the baronet's badge, a sinister hand charged on an escutcheon, is placed on the dexter side of the field.) This coat of arms tells the story of its bearer's grand discovery of the new planet, Uranus.³

3:  We strongly advise our readers to refer to "A Peep at the Heavens" for further information on this point.

This Herschel achieved with the aid of a telescope of his own making. And so very properly a telescope⁴ with all its apparatus is represented on the field, whilst the astronomical symbol of Uranus is charged in the chief. The crest is a demi-terrestrial sphere with an eagle thereon, wings elevated. Motto, "The heavens having been explored."

4:  Sir William Herschel made and erected a telescope 40 feet long at Slough, completing it in 1787.

So this coat of arms, you see, shows the result of the labours of its original bearer, along with the telescope which was instrumental in making the wonderful discovery.

And now a few last words about the frontispiece. [pg 79] This shows the herald in his tabard, which, as the official habit of heralds, has remained unchanged in Great Britain ever since the office of herald was first instituted. The tabard—really, a tunic—was originally worn over mail armour, being blazoned back and front, as it is now, with the arms of the sovereign for the time being.

Though the general name of tabard was given to this particular kind of official garment, it was further distinguished by the term of "tunique," when worn by the King-at-Arms. It was then made of "riche fyne velvet." When worn by the heralds, the tabard was known as a "plasque," and made of satin, whilst the pursuivant's tabard was called a "coat of arms," and made of damask silk.

A King-at-Arms ranks first amongst heraldic officials. It is his duty to direct heralds, to preside at their chapters, and to him belongs the jurisdiction of arms.

We have three English Kings-of-Arms,⁵ styled respectively, Garter, Clarencieux, and Norroy. The officer attached to the Order of the Bath is also styled "Bath King-at-Arms."

5:  The term of "King-at-Arms" is also sometimes employed.

Scotland has her "Lyon King-of-Arms," Ireland her "Ulster King-of-Arms."

We have three chief heralds and six subordinate or provincial ones—viz., York, Lancaster, Chester, Windsor, Richmond, and Somerset. On the accession [pg 80] of George I., two more were appointed and styled the "Hanover Herald," and "Gloucester King-at-Arms."

A pursuivant is an attendant upon the herald, and belongs to the third or lowest order of heraldic officers.

There are four English pursuivants, styled respectively, Rouge Croix, Blue Mantle, Rouge Dragon, and Portcullis. Three pursuivants belong to the Court of Lyon in Scotland—Unicorn, Carrick, and Bute.

On the cover we have the figure of a Crusader in his mail armour, bearing on his breast the badge of a red cross charged upon a white field.

Looking at the massive, closely knit armour portrayed in our illustration, we can easily understand that the wearer encased within it must have suffered cruelly in the East, when the burning sun poured down upon his metal armour, and that, as a natural consequence, the surcoat of some woven fabric was introduced, to be worn over the coat of mail as a protection against the scorching rays of the sun.

PENNONS, BANNERS, AND STANDARDS

Pennons, banners, and standards are so closely associated with heraldry that we must not leave them altogether unnoticed.

In the Middle Ages three distinct classes of heraldic flags appear to have been in use in England.

PLATE 7.

THE FLAGS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

1. The Union Jack.      2. The Royal Standard.

[pg 81]

The first was the pennon; this was an armorial lance flag, narrow and tapering, and was the mark of knightly rank. Sometimes it was triangular in form, but it was oftener forked or swallow-tailed at the fly. It was borne on a lance, and served as the personal ensign of the bearer, being charged with his badge or some other part of his armorial bearings.

The banner was a square flag, very often representing the whole coat of arms of the bearer, in exactly the same way as a shield was blazoned. A banner was carried by all above the rank of a knight, kings included.

An emperor's banner was 6 feet square, a king's 5, a nobleman's only 3.

The standard was the third variety of early heraldic flags. It was chiefly in use in the fifteenth century, though some standards were certainly in use some fifty years sooner.

In old days the term "standard" was loosely applied to any large flag on which a badge and motto were represented; in fact, there is no doubt that the standard was originally designed for the special purpose of displaying armorial bearings. Nevertheless, a standard proper was a tapering flag, richly embroidered, and slit slightly at the narrow end. The standard of an emperor or king was 11 yards long when it was planted before his pavilion, but when it was carried into battle it was reduced to 9 yards in length. It is, therefore, quite incorrect to speak of the square banner on which our royal arms are blazoned as a standard, for it is [pg 82] most distinctly a banner. It displays, as you all know, the armorial bearings of the sovereign fully blazoned, just as they are marshalled in the royal shield. This banner should only be hoisted over a palace when the king or some member of the royal family is actually in residence.

In the Navy, the Royal Standard—falsely so-called—is considered the supreme flag of Great Britain, and is only flown on a ship when the monarch, or someone belonging to the royal family, is on board.

The Union Jack is the national banner of Great Britain and Ireland.

It represents the three united crosses of St. George for England, the saltire of St. Andrew for Scotland, and the cross of St. Patrick for Ireland. St. George's Cross is red on white; St. Andrew's is white on blue; St. Patrick's (saltire-shaped like St. Andrew's) is red on white.

Some writers have derived the word jack from Jacques for James I., because he was the monarch who united the flags of England and Scotland; but this is held to be incorrect. The old heraldic name for a surcoat was "jacque," hence obviously our word "jacket," which recalls the German jacke for coat, and therefore undoubtedly "jaque" survives in the "Union Jack," which is intended to represent the national arms, and thus certainly fulfils the purposes of a coat of arms.

The Union Jack first came into use after James I.'s accession, when England and Scotland became united. [pg 83] Till then, the English flag bore St. George's Cross, a rectangular red cross on a white field, whilst the Scotch flag showed the white diagonal cross of St. Andrew on a blue ground.

The union of the two flags was effected by retaining the blue field of St. Andrew's Cross, whilst the red field of the English flag was represented by adding a narrow border of that colour to the limbs of St. George's Cross. The heraldic term for this addition is "fimbrication"—literally bordering. This combined flag remained in use till 1801, when, Ireland having joined the Union, it became necessary to incorporate the cross of St. Patrick into the national banner. But, lest it should be thought that either of the diagonal crosses took precedence of the other, care was taken that the white and red borders of each should be alternately uppermost.

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland flies the Union Jack with the harp of Ireland on an escutcheon charged upon it. So also does the Governor of India, but in this case the Union Jack bears the Star of India in the centre, charged with a rose, and surmounted by an imperial crown.

We have three flags constantly in use nowadays, which are always spoken of as ensigns. These are:

First, the Red Ensign, a plain red flag, bearing a Union Jack in a canton on the dexter side. This is know as the "Ensign of England," and when displayed at sea distinguishes all vessels not belonging to the Royal Navy.

[pg 84]

Second, the White or St. George's Ensign; the original banner of St. George with a "jack" cantoned in the first quarter. This is the ensign of the Royal Navy.

Third, the Blue Ensign, a plain blue field with the Union Jack cantoned in the dexter side. This is the ensign of the Naval Reserve.

The Admiralty flag, displaying a yellow anchor and cable set fesswise on a red field, may be grouped with the three ensigns.

As regards military flags, the cavalry standards—banners properly—are the true survivals of the knightly banners of the Middle Ages. The colour of the field repeats that of the regimental facings, and each standard bears the number, motto, and specific title of its own regiment, as well as its own heraldic badge. Upon these standards are also blazoned the regimental "honours," such as "Waterloo," "Alma," "Lucknow," thus commemorating the services rendered by that corps to their country.

Infantry regiments have their "colours," or, properly, pair of colours. One of these is the sovereign's colour, always crimson, displaying a Union Jack, charged with the regimental device; the other is the regimental colour, repeating the tincture of the facings. Upon this the "honours" and "devices" of the regiment are charged, whilst a small "jack" is cantoned on the dexter side of the flag.

The regimental "colours" of the Guards is the Union Jack.

[pg 85]

The Royal Artillery have neither colours nor standards.

It would be curious to note the various forms of banners which have been in use since the days when the old Roman general hoisted a small truss of hay as his ensign, but surely one of the queerest flags that ever found its way into history was that displayed by our own Henry V., when, in 1420, he made his entry into Paris, riding between Charles VI. and Philippe, Duke of Burgundy. For then, we are told, that, amongst other banners, the English monarch bore a lance with a fox-tail attached to it, for being "a great hunter of foxes," this was his own personal badge.

* * * * *

Here we must close our "Peeps at Heraldry," but please, dear eyes, that have been peeping with me up to this point, do not close too.

Otherwise the object with which this little book has been written—namely, to open your eyes to the rudiments of heraldry, so that, having begun with a peep, you may go on to take an exhaustive view of the art and its developments—will be sadly defeated.

For this small volume pretends to be nothing more than a simple introduction, a path-finder, to that fascinating language, in which the golden deeds of chivalry and patriotism, of science and philanthropy, are kept alive from age to age in all quarters of the civilized world.

[pg 86]

OF SOME OF THE TERMS TO BE MET WITH IN HERALDRY

• Abased, applied to a charge placed lower than its usual position.
• Accollée, side by side.
• Accrued, fully grown.
• Achievement, complete heraldic emblazonment.
• Addorsed, back to back.
• Agroupment, grouping of two or more shields to form one achievement.
• Ailettes, part of mail armour for protecting neck.
• Appaumée, open hand, showing palm (Fig. 51).
• Arménie, ermine.
• Armes parlantes, allusive arms.
• Armory, heraldry.
• Aspersed, scattered over.
• Assurgeant, rising from the sea.
• Barbute, chin-piece of helm.
• Bardings, horse-trappings.
• Basilisk, cockatrice, produced from egg, laid by cock and hatched by a toad on a dunghill.
• Basinet, steel cap; part of old armour.
• Beacon, fire chest of burning combustibles set on a pole with a ladder against it.
• Bezant, disc-like coin.
• Birdbolt, arrow with a blunt head.
• Breys, horse curbs.
• Brisure, mark of cadency.
• Caltrap, or Cheval-trap, used to maim horses in battle.
• Cameleopardel, mythical beast.
• Chape, or Crampet, decorated top of sheath.
• Chatloup, fabulous horned animal.
• Chess-rook, chess piece.
• Chevronel, small chevron.
• Chimera, legendary beast.
• Cinque-foil, leaf or flower of five foils.
• Closet, bar diminished to half its width.
• Clouée, nailed, nail-heads showing.
• Conjoined in lure, wings united; tips in base.
• Contournée, facing to the sinister.
• Cornish-chough, crow with red beak and legs.[pg 87]
• Coronet, badge of Peer; Duke's, with eight strawberry-leaves of equal height above rim;
  Marquis's, four strawberry-leaves alternating with four pearls on points of same height as leaves;
  Earl's, same as Marquis's, but pearls raised above leaves;
  Viscount's, with twelve silver balls on coronet;
  Baron's, with six silver balls set close to rim.
• Côtise, diminutive bend.
• Coupled-close, half a chevronel.
• Cresset, a beacon.
• Crusilly, sown with cross crosslets.
• Cubit-arm, human arm couped at elbow.
• Debased, reversed.
• Debrusied, when an ordinary surmounts an animal or other ordinary.
• Decollated, said of a decapitated lion.
• Decrescent, half-moon, with horns to the left.
• Defamed, said of a lion looking backwards.
• Degraded, set on steps.
• Demembered, figure cut into bits, with original figure left unaltered.
• Depressed, surmounted.
• Dimidiated, cut in halves pale-wise, and one-half removed.
• Doubling, lining of a mantle.
• Eaglet, little eagle.
• Embowed, bent.
• Embrued, blood-stained.
• Endorse, a little pale.
• Enfiled, pierced with a sword.
• Enhanced, raised towards the chief.
• Ensigned, ornamented.
• Erne, eagle.
• Escroll, ribbon bearing motto.
• Erminites, fur, white, with black spots, and a red hair each side of spots.
• Fermail, a buckle.
• Ferr, horseshoe.
• Fetter-lock, chain and padlock.
• Fillet, diminutive of chief.
• Fitched, pointed at base.
• Flexed, bowed and bent.
• Fylfot, curious cruciform figure.
• Gadbee, horse-fly.
• Gambe, or Jambe, leg of beast of prey.
• Gorged, encircled round the throat.
• Gradient, walking.
• Grand quarters, four primary divisions of the shield.
• Greeces, steps.
• Guige, a shield-belt.
• Hames, parts of horse harness.
• Hastilude, tournament.
• Hatchment, achievement of arms in a lozenge-shaped frame placed over residence of a lately deceased person.
• Heights, applied to plumes rising in rows above one another.
• Hirondelles, swallows.
• Hoist, depth of flag from chief to base.
• Hurst, clump of trees.
• Jessant, shooting forth.
• Ladycow, ladybird.
• Lambel, label.
• Lion morné, lion sans claws or teeth.[pg 88]
• Luce, Lucy, a pike.
• Lymphad, old galley.
• Membered, used to denote legs of birds.
• Nag, often used for horse.
• Opinicus, fabulous beast.
• Oriflamme, square scarlet banner with three tails.
• Overt, with open wings.
• Panache, a plume arranged fan-wise.
• Pascuant, grazing.
• Pean, a fur.
• Pelt, for hide.
• Pheon, pointed spear-head.
• Potent, variety of heraldic cross; also fur; also a crutch.
• Prasin, green.
• Purfled, bordered.
• Ragully, cut off roughly.
• Rebated, snapped off.
• Retorted, intertwined.
• Reynard, fox.
• Roundle, a circular figure; when gold, a bezant; when silver, a plate; when gules, a torteau; when azure, a hurt; when sable, a gunstone; when vert, a pomme.
• Roussant, about to fly.
• Sallet, a kind of helm.
• Sarcellée, sawn through the centre.
• Shelldrake, kind of duck.
• Tennée, or Tawny, deep orange colour.
• Timbre, the true heraldic crest.
• Torse, crest-wreath, made of two skeins of silk twisted together.
• Tressure, a subordinary.
• Tricked, sketched in outline with pen and ink.
• Trussed, said of birds with closed wings.
• Tun, barrel or cask.
• Tynes, branches of a stag's antlers.
• Varvals, small rings.
• Verdy, sown with leaves.
• Vol, two wings conjoined.
• Undy, wavy.
• Unguled, hoofed.
• Zona, old word for fesse.

BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD

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Par Judith Gautier, de l'Académie Goncourt

LE MAROC Par le Comt. Haillot, détaché à Casablanca	EGYPTE Par Jean Bayet, docteur en droit
AUX INDES Par le Capitaine Pionnier, Chargé de Mission	LE JAPON Par Judith Gautier, de l'Académie Goncourt
In Preparation:
A TRAVERS LA RUSSIE	LA PALESTINE
INDO CHINE	LES ALPES
L'ALSACE-LORRAINE

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PEEPS AT NATURE

Each containing 16 full-page illustrations (8 of which are in colour)

WILD FLOWERS AND THEIR WONDERFUL WAYS	THE HEAVENS
BRITISH LAND MAMMALS	BIRD LIFE OF THE SEASONS

PEEPS AT HISTORY

Each containing 8 full-page illustrations in colour as well as numerous
black and white thumb-nail sketches in the text

SCOTLANDCANADAINDIAJAPAN

PEEPS AT GREAT RAILWAYS

Each containing 8 full-page illustrations in colour as well as numerous
black and white thumb-nail sketches in the text

THE LONDON & NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY

THE NORTH-EASTERN & GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAYS

PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK. 4, 5 AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

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PRICE 1/6 NET EACH (Continued)

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BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN

EACH CONTAINING 12 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

Large square demy 8vo., boards, with picture cover

Cambridge	The Isle of Wight	The Thames
Canterbury	London	The Trossachs
The Channel Islands	Oxford	North Wales
The Firth of Clyde	Stratford-on-Avon	Wessex
The English Lakes	Leamington and Warwick	Windsor and Eton
The Isle of Man

This is a new series of colour-books produced at a popular price, and they are the most inexpensive books of this character which have ever been produced. They therefore make a significant epoch in colour-printing, bringing for the first time a high-class colour-book within the reach of all. The illustrations are by well-known artists, and their work has been reproduced with the greatest accuracy, while the printing reaches an exceedingly high level. The authors have been selected with great care, and are well known for the charm of their style and the accuracy of their information.

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PRICE 1/6 EACH

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BLACK'S PICTURE SERIES FOR YOUNG
PEOPLE

EACH CONTAINING 58 ILLUSTRATIONS, 32 OF WHICH ARE IN COLOUR

Crown 4to., with picture in colour on the cover

The British Empire in Pictures
The British Isles in Pictures		By H. Clive Barnard M.A., B.Litt.
Europe in Pictures
How Other People Live

The World in Pictures
Beasts and Birds		Nature Books for Young People		By C. von Wyss
Gardens in their Seasons

Pictures of British History.

By E. L. Hoskyn

The underlying charm of these fascinating books for children will be found in their delightful simplicity. Rich in beautifully coloured illustrations, they should prove a valuable means of conveying to the childish imagination delicate first impressions of the subjects dealt with.

PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK. 4, 5 AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

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PRICE 3/6 NET EACH

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PEEPS AT MANY LANDS AND CITIES

Larger Volumes in the style of the popular One Shilling and Sixpenny "PEEPS
AT MANY LANDS" SERIES (see page 2 of this List)

EACH CONTAINING 32 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

Extra large crown 8vo., cloth, with picture in colour on cover

THE BRITISH EMPIRE	OCEANIA
	(AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND and SOUTH SEAS)
By Frank Fox	By Frank Fox
THE FAR EAST	THE WORLD
(CHINA, JAPAN and KOREA)
By Frank Elias	By Ascott R. Hope

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PRICE 3/6 NET

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By Rev. Charles A. Hall

THE OPEN BOOK OF NATURE

A BOOK OF NATURE STUDY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

16 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR, ALSO 114 REPRODUCTIONS IN BLACK
AND WHITE FROM PHOTOGRAPHS, AS WELL AS NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS IN
THE TEXT

Large crown 8vo., cloth

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PRICE 3/6 EACH

LIFE STORIES OF ANIMALS

Large crown 8vo., cloth

THE BLACK BEAR By H. Perry Robinson 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by J. Van Oort	THE LION By Agnes Herbert 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Harry Dixon
THE CAT By Violet Hunt 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Adolph Birkenruth	THE RAT By G. M. A. Hewett 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Stephen Baghot de la Bere
THE DOG By G. E. Mitton 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by John Williamson	THE SQUIRREL By T. C. Bridges 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Allan Stewart
THE FOWL By J. W. Hurst 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Allan Stewart and Maude Scrivener	THE TIGER By Lieut.-Col. A. F. Mockler-Ferryman 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Harry Dixon

PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK. 4, 5 AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

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PRICE 3/6 EACH (Continued)

ALL WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

Large crown 8vo., cloth

By Frank Elias THE FIRST VOYAGES OF GLORIOUS MEMORY (Retold from Hakluyt) 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Norman Wilkinson, R.B.A., R.I. By Oliver Goldsmith THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by J. Massey Wright By Dudley Kidd THE BULL OF THE KRAAL A Tale of Black Children 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by A. M. Goodall By Ascott R. Hope BEASTS OF BUSINESS 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by G. Vernon Stokes and Alan Wright STORIES 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Dorothy Furniss By Daniel Defoe ROBINSON CRUSOE 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by John Williamson By Captain Cook COOK'S VOYAGES 8 full page Illustrations in Colour by John Williamson By Mungo Park TRAVELS IN AFRICA 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by John Williamson By Elizabeth Grierson THE LIFE of ST. PAUL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Oswald Moser, R.I. Translated and abridged by Dominick Daly THE ADVENTURES OF DON QUIXOTE 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Stephen Baghot de la Bere By Dean Farrar ERIC; or, Little by Little 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by G. D. Rowlandson, and 78 in Black and White by Gordon Browne ST. WINIFRED'S; or, The World of School 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Dudley Tennant, and 152 in Black and White by Gordon Browne JULIAN HOME A Tale of College Life 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Patten Wilson By John Finnemore THE STORY of ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY MEN 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by Allan Stewart THE WOLF PATROL A Story of Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by H. M. Paget JACK HAYDON'S QUEST 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by J. Jellicoe

PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK. 4, 5 AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

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PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK. 4, 5 AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

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PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, 4, 5 AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.