treatise of the Vanity of Sciences, cap. 81, has collected many instances of these marks of distinction, anciently borne by kingdoms and states that were any way civilised. As to hereditary arms of families, William Camden, Sir Henry Spelman, and other judicious heralds, agree, that they did not begin till towards the end of the eleventh century. According to F. Menestrier, a French writer, whose authority is great in this matter, Henry l'Oiseleur (or the Falconer), who was raised to the imperial throne of the West in 920, by regulating tournaments in Germany, gave occasion to the establishment of family arms, or hereditary marks of honor, which undeniably are more ancient and better observed among the Germans than in any other nation. This last author also asserts, that with tournaments first came up coats of arms; which were a sort of livery, made up of several lists, fillets, or narrow pieces of stuff of divers colors, from whence came the fess, the bend, the pale, &c., which were the original charges of family arms; for they who never had been at tournaments had not such marks of distinction. They who inlisted in the crusades took up also several new figures formerly unknown in armorial ensigns; such as allerions, bezants, escalop-shells, martlets, &c. but more particularly crosses of different colors and shapes. From this it may be concluded, that heraldry, like most human inventions, was introduced and established gradually; and that, after having been rude and unsettled for many ages, it was at last methodised, perfected, and fixed by the crusades and

tournaments.

These marks of honor are called arms, from their being principally and first worn by military men at war and tournaments, who had them engraved, embossed, or depicted on shields, targets, banners, or other martial instruments. They are also called coats of arms, from the custom of the ancients embroidering them on the coats they wore over their arms, as heralds do to this day.

Arms are distinguished by different names, to denote the causes of their bearing: such as, arms of dominion, of pretension, of concession, of community, of patronage, of family, of alliance, of succession.

Arms of dominion, or sovereignty, are those which emperors, kings, and sovereign states, constantly bear; being, as it were, annexed to the territories, kingdoms, and provinces they possess. Thus the three lions are the arms of England, the fleur-de-lis those of the French,

&c.

Arms of pretension are those of such kingdoms, provinces, or territories, to which a prince or lord has some claim, and which he adds to his own, although the said kingdoms or territories be possessed by a foreign prince or other lord. Thus the kings of England quartered the arms of France with their own, ever since Edward III. laid claim to the kingdom of France in 1330, on account of his being son to Isabella, sister to Charles IV. or the Fair, who died without issue; till the union with Ireland, when his majesty's arms were altered, and the French arms were thrown out.

Arms of concession, or augmentation of honor, are either entire arms, or else one or more figures, given by princes as a reward for some great service. We read in history, that Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, allowed the earl of Wintoun's ancestor to bear, in his coat armour, a crown supported by a sword, to show that he, and the clan Seaton, of which he was the head, supported his tottering crown. The late queen Anne granted to Sir Cloudesly Shovel, rear-admiral of Great Britain, a cheveron between two fleurs-de-lis in chief, and a crescent in base, to denote three great victories he had gained: two over the French, and one over the Turks.

Arms of community are those of bishoprics, cities, universities, academies, societies, companies, and other bodies corporate.

Arms of patronage are such as governors of provinces, lords of manors, patrons of benefices, &c., add to their family arms, as a token of their superiority, rights, and jurisdiction. These arms have introduced into heraldry, castles, gates, wheels, ploughs, rakes, harrows, &c.

Arms of family, or paternal arms, are those that belong to one particular family, that distinguish it from others, and which no person is suffered to assume without committing a crime, which sovereigns have a right to restrain and punish.

Arms of alliance are those which families or private persons take up and join to their own, to denote the alliances they have contracted by marriage. This sort of arms is either impaled, or borne in an escutcheon of pretence, by those who have married heiresses.

Arms of succession are such as are taken up by those who inherit certain estates, manors, &c., either by will, entail, or donation, and which they either impale or quarter with their own arms; which multiplies the titles of some families out of necessity, and not through ostentation, as many imagine.

These are the eight classes under which the various sorts of arms are generally ranged; but there is a sort which blazoners call assumptive arms, being such as are taken up by the caprice or fancy of upstarts, though of ever so mean extraction, who, being advanced to a degree of fortune, assume them without a legal title. This, indeed, is a great abuse of heraldry, and common only in Britain, for on the continent no such practice takes place.

We now proceed to consider the essential and integral parts of arms, which are these:-The escutcheon; the charges; the tinctures; the or

naments.

OF THE SHIELD OR ESCUTCHEON. The shield or escutcheon is the field or ground whereon are represented the figures that make up a coat of arms: for these marks of distinction were put on bucklers or shields before they were placed on banners, standards, flags, and coatarmour; and, wherever they may be fixed, they are still on a plane, or superficies, whose form resembles a shield.

Shields, in heraldry called escutcheons, or scutcheons, have been, and still are, of different forms, according to different times and nations

Amongst ancient shields, some were almost like a horse-shoe (see plate I. HERALDRY), others triangular, somewhat rounded at the bottom. The people who inhabited Mesopotamia, now called Diarbeck, made use of this sort of shield, which it is thought they had of the Trojans. Sometimes the shield was heptagonal, that is, had seven sides. The first of this shape is said to have been used by the famous triumvir M. Antony. That of knights banneret was square, like a banner. As to modern escutcheons, those of the Italians, particularly of ecclesiastics, are generally oval. The English, French, Germans, and other nations, have their escutcheons formed different ways, according to the carver's or painter's fancy see the various examples in the plates. But the escutcheons of maids, widows, and of such as are born ladies, and are married to private gentlemen, is in the form of a lozenge. Sir G. M'Kenzie mentions one Muriel, countess of Strathern, who carried her arms in a lozenge, anno 1284, which shows how long we have been versant in heraldry.

Armorists distinguish several parts or points in escutcheons, in order to determine exactly the position of the bearings they are charged with; they are here denoted by the first nine letters of the alphabet, ranged in the following manner :A-the dexter chief B-the precise middle chief. C-the sinister chief. D-the honor point.

E-the fess point.

F-the nombril point.

G-the dexter base.
H-the precise middle base.
I-the sinister base.

A B C

D

E

F

GHI

The knowledge of these points is of great importance, for they are frequently occupied with several bearings of different kinds. The dexter side of the escutcheon is opposite to the left hand, and the sinister side to the right hand of the person that looks upon it.

OF TINCTURES, FURS, LINES, AND DIF

Besides the colors above-mentioned, the English writers on heraldry admit two others, viz. Orange,

Blood-color, termed Tenny,

Sanguine. But these two are rarely to be found in British bearings.

These tinctures are represented in engravings and drawings (the invention of the ingenious Silvester Petra Sancta, an Italian author of the last century), by dots and lines.

Or is expressed by dots. Argent needs no mark, and is therefore plain. Azure, by horizontal lines. Gules, by perpendicular lines. Vert, by diagonal lines from the dexter chief to the sinister base points. Purpure, by diagonal lines from the sinister chief to the dexter base points. Sable, by perpendicular and horizontal lines crossing each other. Tenny, by diagonal lines from the sinister chief to the dexter base points, traversed by horizontal lines. Sanguine, by lines crossing each other diagonally from dexter to sinister, and from sinister to dexter.

The English heralds give different names to the roundlet, according to its color. Thus, if it is Or, it is called a Bezant; Argent, a Plate; Azure, a Hurt; Gules, a Torteux; Vert, a Pomey; Purpure, a Golpe; Sable, a Pellet; Tenny, an Orange; and Sanguine, Guze. See COLORS.

Other nations do not admit such a multiplicity of names to this figure; but call them Bezants, after an ancient coin struck at Constantinople, once Byzantium, if they are Or and Torteaux; if of any other tincture expressing the same. See plate I.

Furs represent the hairy skin of certain beasts, prepared for the doublings or linings of robes and garments of state; and, as shields were anciently covered with furred skins, they are there. fore used in heraldry, not only for the linings of the mantles, and other ornaments of the shields, but also in the coats of arms themselves. There are six different kinds in use, viz.

1. Ermine; which is a field argent, powdered with black spots, their tails terminating in three hairs.

2. Erminitis, or counter-ermine, where the field is sable, and the powdering white.

3. Erminois: the field Or, the powdering sable.

skins, cut into the forms of little bells, ranged in 4. Vair, which is expressed by blue and white rows opposite to each other, the base of the white ones being always next to that of the blue Vair is usually of six rows; if there be more or fewer the number ought to be expressed; and, if the colors are different from those above mentioned, they must likewise be expressed.

ones.

5. Pean; the field is sable, the powdering Or. The French used no such term: but they called all furs or doublings des pannes, or pennes; which term has possibly given rise to this mistake and many others, in those who do not understand the French language.

6. Potent, anciently called Vairy-cuppy, as when the field is filled with crutches or potents counter-placed. Vair and Potent may be any two colors.

The use of the tinctures took its rise from the N

several colors used by warriors whilst they were in the army, which S. de Petra Sancta proves by many citations; and because it was the custom to embroider gold and silver on silk, or silk on cloth of gold and silver, the heralds appointed, that, in imitation of the clothes so embroidered, color should never be used upon color, nor metal upon metal.

Escutcheons are either of one tincture, or more than one. Those that are of one only, that is when some metal, color, or fur, is spread all over the surface or field, such a tincture is said to be predominant: but in such as have on them more than one, as most have, the field is divided by lines, which, according to their divers forms, receive various names.

Lines may be either straight or crooked. Straight lines are carried evenly through the escutcheon and are of four different kinds, viz. a perpendicular line ; a horizontal, -; a diagonal dexter,; a diagonal sinister, /.

Crooked lines are those which are carried unevenly through the escutcheon with rising and falling. French armorists reckon eleven different sorts of them; Guillim admits of seven only; the figures and names of which are to be seen in plate I. of HERALDRY.

The principal reason why lines are thus used in heraldry is to difference bearings which would be otherwise the same; for an escutcheon charged with a chief engrailed, differs from one charged with a chief wavy, as much as if the one bore a cross and the other a saltier. As the forementioned lines serve to divide the field, if the division consists of two equal parts made by the perpendicular line, it is called parted per pale; by the horizontal line, parted per fess; by the diagonal dexter, parted per bend; by the diagonal sinister, parted per bend sinister; examples of which will be given in the sequel of this treatise.

If a field is divided into four equal parts, by any of these lines, it is said to be quartered; which may be done two ways, viz.

Quartered or parted per cross: which is made by a perpendicular and horizontal line, which, crossing each other at the centre of the field, divide it into four equal parts called quarters.

Quartered or parted per saltier; which is made by two diagonal lines, dexter and sinister, that cross one another in the centre of the field, and likewise divide it into four equal parts. See plate I. The escutcheon is sometimes divided into a greater number of parts, in order to place in it the arms of the several families to which one is allied; and in this case it is called a genealogical achievement. These divisions may consist of six, eight, twelve, and sixteen quarters, (as the royal arms), and even sometimes of twenty, thirty-two, sixty-four, and upwards; there being examples of such divisions frequently exhibited at pompous funerals; but Sir William Dugdale very justly objects to so many arms being clustered together in one shield or banner, on account of the difficulty of discerning one coat of arms from another.

Armorists have invented many differences or characteristical marks, whereby bearers of the same coat of arms are distinguished each from

others, and their nearness to the principal beare demonstrated. According to J. Guillim, these differences are to be considered either as ancient or modern.

Those he calls ancient differences consist in bordures; which is a bearing that goes all round and parallel to the boundary of the escutcheon, in form of a hem, and always contains a fifth part of the field in breadth. Bordures were used in ancient times for the distinguishing not only of one nation or tribe from another, but also to note a diversity between particular persons descended of one family and from the same parents. This distinction, however, was not expressly sgnified by invariable marks; nor were bordures always appropriated to denote the different de grees of consanguinity: for, as Sir Henry Spelman observes ancient heralds, being fond of perspicuous differences, often inverted the pternal tincture, or sometimes inserted another charge in the escutcheon, such as bends, croslets, cantons, or the like; which irregularity has, I suppose, induced modern armorists to invent and make use of others.'

There are bordures of different forms and tinctures, and they are generally used as a difference beween families of the same name, and also as marks of illegitimacy.

A bordure is never of metal upon metal, and seldom of color upon color, but rather of the tincture which the principal bearing or charge is of. Thus Sir- -Dalziel of Glenae, whose predecessor was a younger brother of the noble family of Carnwath, has within a bordure argent. the paternal coat of the ancient name of Dalziel. viz. Sable, a hanged man with his arms ex tended, argent;' formerly they carried him hanging on a gallows. This bearing, though so very singular for a coat of arms, was given as a reward to one of the ancestors of the late Robert Dalziel, earl of Carnwarth, to perpetuate the memory of a brave and hazardous exploit performed in taking down from the gallows the body of a favorite and near relation of king Kenneth II., hung up by the Picts; which story is thus related by Alexander Nisbet: The king being exceedingly grieved that the body of his minion and kinsman should be so disgracefully treated, he proffered a great reward to any of his subjects who would adventure to rescue his corpse from the disgrace his cruel enemies had unjustly put upon it; but, when none would undertake this hazardous enterprise, at last a valorous gentleman came and said to the king, Dalziel, which signifies ‘I dare;' and he did actually perform that noble exploit to the king's satisfaction and his own immortal honor, and in memory of it got the aforesaid remarkable bearing; and afterwards his posterity took the word Dalziel for their surname, and the interpretation of it, I dare, continues to this day to be the motto of that noble family.' We can have no better proof of the truth of this tradition than this, that the head of this ancient family have for many ages carefully retained this bearing without any alteration or addition.

The modern differences which the English have adopted, not only for the distinguishing of sons issued out of one family, but also to denote the difference and subordinate degrees in each

Louse from the original ancestors, are nine; viz. For the heir or first son, the Label. Second son, the Crescent. Third son, the Mullet. Fourth son, the Martlet. Fifth son, the Annulet. Sixth son, the Fleur-de-lis. Seventh son, the Rose. Eighth son, the Cross-moline. Ninth son, the Double Quarter-foil. By these differences, the six sons of Thomas Beauchamp, the fifteenth earl of Warwick, who died in the thirty-fourth year of king Edward III., are distinguished in an old window of the church of St. Mary at Warwick; so that, although they are called modern differences, their usage with the English is ancient. But of all the fore-mentioned marks of distinction, none but the label is affixed on the coats of arms belonging to any of the royal family; which the introducers of this peculiarity have, however, thought proper to difference by additional pendants and distinct charges on them; 1. The prince of Wales has a label Luna. 2. The duke of York has a label Luna charged with a cross Mars upon the middle Lambeaux. 3. The duke of Clarence has a label Luna, charged with a cross Mars, between two anchors Jupiter. 4. The duke of Gloucester has a label of five points Luna, the middle one charged with a fleur-de-lis Jupiter; the other four with a cross Mars. These differences are borne upon the arms and supporters. See the plates.

Sisters, except of the blood-royal, have no other mark of difference in their coats of arms, but the form of the escutcheon; therefore they are permitted to bear the arms of their father, as the eldest son does after his father's decease. The reason is by Guillim said to be, that when they are married they lose their surname, and receive that of their husbands'.

OF THE CHARGES.

Whatsoever is contained in the field, whether it occupy the whole or only a part thereof, is called a charge. All charges are distinguished by the names of honorable ordinaries, sub-ordinaries, and common charges.

Honorable ordinaries, the principal charges in heraldry, are made of lines only, which, according to their disposition and form, receive different

names.

Sub-ordinaries are ancient heraldic figures, frequently used in coats of arms, and which are distinguished by terms appropriated to each of them.

Common charges are composed of natural, artificial, and even chimerical things; such as planets, creatures, vegetables, instruments &c.

The most judicious armorists admit only of nine honorable ordinaries, viz. The Chief; the Pale; the Bend; the Bend Sinister; the Fess: the Bar; the Chevron; the Cross; and the Saltier.

Of these only six have diminutives, which are called as follows: That of the chief is a fillet; the pale has a pallet and endorse; the bend, a bendlet, cost, and riband; the bend sinister has the scarp and bâton; the bar, the closet and barulet; the chevron, a chevronel and coupleclose. See PLATE I.

The chief is an ordinary determined by an horizontal line, which, if it is of any other form

but straight, must be expressed. It is placed in the upper part of the escutcheon, and contains in depth the third part of the field. Its diminutive is a fillet, the content of which is not to exceed one-fourth of the chief, and stands in the lowest part thereof. This ordinary is subject to be charged with variety of figures; and may be indented, wavy, nebule, &c.

The pale is an ordinary, consisting of two perpendicular lines drawn from the top to the base of the escutcheon, and contains the third middle part of the field. Its diminutives are, the pallet, which is the half of the pale; and the endorse, which is the fourth part of a pale. This ordinary and the pallet may receive any charge, but the endorse should not be charged. The endorse, besides, is never used, according to J. Leigh, but to accompany the pale in pairs, as cotices do the bend; but Sir John Ferne is of a different opinion.

The bend is an ordinary formed by two diagonal lines, drawn from the dexter chief to the sinister base; and contains the fifth part of the field in breadth, if uncharged; but if charged, then the third. Its diminutives are, the bendlet, which is the half of a bend: the cost or cotice, when two of them accompany a bend; which is the fourth part of a bend; and the riband, the moiety of a cost, or the eighth part of a field.

The bend sinister is of the same breadth as the bend, but drawn the contrary way this is subdivided into a scrape, which is the half of the bend, and into a baton, which is the fourth part of the bend, but does not extend itself to the extremities of the field, there being part of it seen at both ends.

The fess is an ordinary produced by two parallel lines drawn horizontally across the centre of the field, and contains in breadth the third part thereof. Some English writers say it has no diminutive, for the bar is a distinct ordinary of itself.

The bar, according to their definition, is formed of two lines, and contains but the fifth part of the field: which is not the only thing wherein it differs from the fess; for there may be more than one in an escutcheon, placed in different parts thereof, whereas the fess is limited to the centre-point; but in this the French armorists differed from them. The bar has two diminutives; the barulet, which contains the half of the bar; and the closet, which is the half of the barulet. When the shield contains a number of bars of metal and color alternate, of even number, that is called barry of so many pieces, expressing their number.

The chevron, which represents two rafters of a house well jointed together, or a pair of compasses half open, takes up the fifth part of the field with the English, but the French gave it the third. Its diminutives are, The chevronel, which contains the half of a chevron; and the couple-close, which is the half of a chevronel, that is, its breadth is but the fourth part of a chevron. Leigh observes, that this last diminutive is never borne but in pairs, or with a chevron between two of them. The French had but one diminution of this ordinary called Etaye, containing the third part of its breadth.