the efcutcheon was totally reverfed, as in that of Andrew de Harclay, Earl of Carlisle, in the reign of Edward II. and of other rebellious barons, who were led to execution, in their tabards painted with their coat armour in reverfe. Hugh de Spencer was brought from Lantriflent Caftle to Hereford, with equal ignominy, and on a lean horfe. It would be repugnant to that juftice which was the characteristic of chivalry, to fuppofe that this ftigma was ever tranfmitted to pofterity. The punishment was merely perfonal, on which account, we hardly know at this time that fuch emblems were ever ufed. It is alfo to be obferved, that thofe who were fentenced to wear their arms reversed, for any offence fhort of treason, such as discourteously treating either maid or widow againft her will, or flying from the fovereign's banner, might be re-admitted to their priftine honours, on the report of the heralds that they had done fome act worthy of note; but this reftitution could not be effected in a lefs public place than a camp, or at a mufter.

In feveral inftances, the nobility claimed the privilege of granting arms to their efquires, which were afterwards confirmed by the earl marfhal. Arms appear likewise to have been conceded by one knight to another, provided the person making the conceffion had two efcutcheons by hereditary descent; and they might be affigned by a female, who was an heir general, to her own hufband, or the husband of her daughter, who inherited her lands; but this was before the college of heralds was formed, and their exclufive privileges confirmed.

The ufe of armorial bearings being thus established, the confervation of their purity became the care, not only of families interested, but of the earl marfhal, the official heralds, and fubfequently of a college, of all which an account will be given below; but first it may be proper to notice fome general circumftances incident to the fubject.

The reign of Edward III. was on all accounts favourable to that fpirit which is fhewn in the acquirement and prefervation of coat armour, the perfonal character of the monarch, and his fon the Black Prince, the fplendour of the court, the fuccefs of the nation in foreign wars, and the high eftimation in which chivalry and its honours were held, gave the fairest and moft fplendid colouring to the military paffion, and all its

ornaments.

In the reign of Richard II., armorial bearings were more widely, though lefs honourably, diffufed. That monarch, effeminate and luxurious, indulged himfelf more particularly in the fopperies of drefs. The armorial device was no longer confined to the gorgeous array of warriors completely armed, but embosled and embroidered on the common habits of those who

attended

attended his fumptuous court. Upon the mantle, the furcoat, and the juft au corps, or bodice, the charge and cognizance of the wearer were profufely fcattered, and fhone refplendent in tiffue and beaten gold. The wardrobe of a nobleman became no fmall part of his wealth, the articles of which were subjects of teftamentary bequeft; a fashion which, in the fucceeding century, prevailed to a ftill greater excefs. Crefts and cognizances in his time were multiplied, and supporters, analogous to the bearing or cognizance generally introduced. This great variety of devices was, in this reign, and thofe of the monarchs immediately fucceeding, employed in every habit of magnificence in drefs, extending even to purfes; in household furniture, canopies of ftate, compartments on wainscots, and ftained glafs on windows, both of houfes and churches. They were emblazoned on vellum rolls, and ufed in compliment to the patrons of literature in illuminated copies of books, and were eminently confpicuous in canopies of ftate, and all public proceffions. On feals they had long been ufed; Richard Cœur de Lion first bore them on his fhield; ward I. on the caparison of his horfes; and Richard II. introduced the cuftom of embroidering arms on the just au corps, and has his cognizance, a white hart couchant beneath a tree, which fupports his efcutcheons. Henry V. added divers other fhields, difpofed in different parts of the tabernacle work of his feal, as those of St. George, and Edward the Confeffor. His fon Henry VI. adopted his mode of emblazoning the arms of France, with three fleurs de lys only.

Henry V. the gallant conqueror of France, was liberal in the diftribution of honours to thofe who diftinguifhed themfelves in the field, particularly at the battle of Agincourt; but he was proportionately jealous in guarding that diftinction, which he deftined to be the reward of valour, from degradation by the ufurpation of unworthy pretenders. During the contentions of the houfes of York and Lancaster, arms were univerfally used, and most religiously and pertinaciously maintained. The great families, from the period of their being first ennobled, had branched out into many collateral houfes, who were distinguished by the usual marks of filiation, and by differences. In many inftances, however, thefe were found infufficient to denote a feparation; and, as it frequently happened that fome branches were engaged in oppofite parties, they were the more willingly led to relinquifh their paternal, and to introduce a new device.

To bear arms had now been for feveral centuries the indifpenfable indication of acquired or hereditary honour. In the field of battle, or the lifts, the efcutcheon gave unequivocal VOL. I. information

Ii

information of the bearer, not only with refpect of his paternal defcent; but to his lineal agnation. Soon after hereditary coat armour became fo generally adopted, an imperfection prefented itself, to remedy which, further inventions were neceffary; for it was allowed in the court of chivalry, that all the fons of an efquire might appropriate their father's device. Confufion of perfons was the refult of this indulgence, which could be avoided only by the application of fpecific marks, incorporated with the patrimonial bearings. Defcendants of illuftrious families began therefore to make a variation from the fimple ordinary which they at first bore, by adding several different charges. In procefs of time, thefe collateral branches often relinquifhed their patronymic, and affumed the name of an acquired feigniory, yet, in fome inftances, the affinity is ftill to be difcovered by the armorial bearing, after it had ceased to be known by identity of furname. The fcience now began to be understood and fubjected to intelligible rules, and its permanency was fecured by Richard III. who founded the College of Heralds.

In the reign of Henry VIII., especially in the early part, the pomp of chivalry was affiduoufly cultivated, and armorial ornainents used on all occafions with unexampled profufion, but the progrefs of heraldic knowledge rendering the fiction and fabrication of arms which appeared honourable without interfering with the rights of others, eafy, the respect paid to them was gradually, but irrecoverably impaired, and this effect was augmented, if not principally occafioned, by thofe changes in the character and manners of the kingdom which were produced by the weakening of the feudal feignories, the spirit of commercial adventure, which was invigorated by the discovery of the new world; and the reformation, which occafioned fo many important alterations in the domeftic manners of the

nation.

In the reign of Elizabeth, heraldic information was much extended, and the queen gave every encouragement to tilts and haftiludes; but thefe exhibitions were altered,, and, in the opinion of many, degraded by the introduction of feveral variations from the ancient manner of celebrating tournaments, particularly in the armour and decorations of the combatants. These were faid to be derived from Italy, and confifted principally in changing the efcutcheon and cognizance for the imprefs and motto, the former confifting of an emblem characteristic of the bearer, and its meaning explained by a fentence, which to render it still more myfterious, was fometimes imperfect. The old affault by man against man was alfo changed occafionally, for the attack and defence of a caftle; but ftill there was

in them a great portion of prowess and enterprize, and they were conducted with great ceremony and magnificence. The queen herself supported and encouraged the domeftic fplendour of the nation by the moft gorgeous pageantries. Her perfon was never expofed to the fight of her admiring fubjects, but the poetic regions were unpeopled to hail her approach, and every foppery was exhibited which the combined force of claffical and gothic imagery could fupply. These should yet be confidered as additions to the ftock of public amusement, originating in that love of rude fplendour which characterised the age, and not as tending to the exclufion of heraldic ceremonies, which still retained their ftation on occafions of ancient eftablishment. More particularly were they obferved at folemn interments of the nobility; which were conducted with pompuous folemnity, and under the immediate aufpices of the herald's college.

In the enfuing reign, Henry, Prince of Wales, revived the dormant fpirit which firft animated the exercises of chivalry; but with its illuftrious and too fhort-lived patron, the fpirit fled to return no more.

During the times of James I., the custom began of drawing out the pedigrees of families on vellum rolls, with illuminations and emblazoned efcutcheons, authenticated by the office feal and fignature of the king of arms of the province. In tapestry alfo the armorial bearings of families were emblazoned, and fuperfeded the old fashion of fufpending fhields from hooks, or painting the arms on wainscots.

From this period the hiftory of arms belongs rather to the heralds office than to any fphere of more general extent; the right to coat armour being afcertained or little contended, and the modes of exhibiting it rarely affected by the will of the fovereign, or the changes of fafhion. It may however be worthy of remark, that the Republican revolution in this country which terminated the unhappy reign of the first Charles, was not attended with any circumftance prejudicial to the records of ancestry, or the original meeds of worth and valour. How different from the revolution in France, where the malice of an infuriate populace was first directed against the records and archives of nobility, which were uniformly obliterated and deftroyed. But Cromwell, though an ufurper of fupreme authority, was a gentleman, and many officers in the Republican army were not the mere upftarts of the day, but derived from honourable ancestry. Thefe, as well as the protector, although ready to decry royalty, and thofe claims of fuperiority in point of blood, which made their opponents regard them with fo much contempt, were fomewhat oftenta

tious in the difplay of thofe emblems of gentility which had been conferred on their ancestors under the fyftem which they had overthrown. No fooner had Cromwell gained the fupreme command of the army, than his bannerols exhibited his paternal bearings, amplified with numerous quarterings; and when he obtained the protectorate, the national enfigns were fubftituted for thofe of royalty; but the inefcutcheon of Cromwell was invariably placed in the centre, both upon his standardз and coins. Many commanders in the Republican army retained the bearings of their families, and bore them upon pennons; they had likewife a large fquare banner, upon which was painted a device and motto, both which defcribed or alluded to the principles of the caufe they had undertaken to defend, and were expreffive of the fanatic fpirit by which they were actuated. Those who were intitled to bear coat armour did not fail to exhibit it, but the typical banner was in more general use.

It will not be expected that in a work like this, even an outline fhall be given of the varieties and fignifications of armorial diftinctions; they are the fubject of many copious and learned treatifes, which no abridgment could enable the reader to comprehend, and which derive from the illustrations of the pencil a more complete intelligibility than could be furnifhed by the moft laboured verbal details. In general, it may fuffice to fay, that the defire to preserve and publicly to indicate the ancestry from which individuals are derived has been the great caufe of all the labour and skill displayed by the herald. Many nations, antecedent to the modern inhabitants of Europe, preferved with fcrupulous exactnefs evidences of genealogy. In England, written narratives, originally compiled by the monks, in compliment to their founders, or other noble families, to whom they were obliged, furnifhed the first information on this point; the increafing diligence and fagacity of fucceeding times amplified and methodized their mode of giving information, and tables of pedigree were formed with an accurate detail of all the collateral and incidental connexions of families. The forms of coat armour, as the science of heraldry advanced towards perfection, were a pictured defcription of the hiftory of descent, not lefs legible by the adept, than the written document was by the ordinary fcholar. The arms, quarterings, cognizances, crefts and fupporters, all speak to the herald a diftinct language, denoting the original family of the bearer; his defcent from the male or female branch; his connexion by marriage, and his peculiar addition.

Nor are armorial bearings confined to individuals or families, they are given to bodies corporate, whether civil or religious, to towns, churches, colleges, halls, and chartered companies.

The