The Curiosities of Heraldry Part 35

601.

[226] The supporters of this family are 'two leopards argent, spotted sable.'

[227] Page 437.

[228] Peerage, II, 486.

[229] In the History of Birds, by the Rev. Edward Stanley (now Bishop of Norwich), vol. i, 119, are some interesting anecdotes of the asportation of infants by eagles, ill.u.s.trative of the family crest, and the corresponding story of King Alfred's peer, "Nestingum," who received that name from his having been found, in infancy, in the nest of an eagle. For further remarks, vide Mr. Ormerod's interesting paper on the "Stanley Legend," in the Collect. Topog. et Geneal. vol. vii, which has been reprinted in the form of a private tract.

[230] Penes Rev. Henry Latham, M. A., Rector of Selmeston, &c. &c., to whose kindness I am much indebted.

[231] Vide notice of _Rebuses_, at p. 125.

[232] C. S. Gilbert's Cornwall, vol. i.

[233] The earldom of Oxford continued in this family during the unprecedented period of five centuries and a half.

[234] Itin. vol. vi, p. 37.

[235] Leland, Collect. vol. ii, p. 504.

[236] Or, a fesse chequy argent and azure.

[237] Anonymous Paragraph.

[238] It is not unworthy of remark that among the North American Indians, symbols are employed for the purpose of distinguishing their tribes. The Shawanese nation, for example, was originally divided into twelve tribes, which were subdivided into septs or clans, recognized by the appellations of the Bear, the Turtle, the Eagle, &c. In some cases individuals, particularly the more eminent warriors, formerly a.s.sumed similar devices, commemorative of their prowess. "And this," says Mr. R. C. Taylor, an American antiquary, "is _Indian Heraldry_, as useful, as commemorative, as inspiriting to the red warrior and his race, as that when, in the days of the Crusades, the banner and the pennon, the device and the motto, the crest and the war-cry exercised their potent influence on European chivalry."

[239] Reflections on the Revolution in France.

[240] Blackstone, Rights of Persons, ch. xii.

[241] Cited in Nares's Herald. Anom.

[242] History of Knighthood, quoted by Nares.

[243] Vide pp. 34, 35.

[244] A military expedition.

[245] The Tanner.

[246] There are two other expressions applied to this respectable cla.s.s which are extremely incorrect, namely, _gentlemen-farmers_ and _tenant-farmers_. A person who by birth, education, and wealth, is ent.i.tled to the distinction of gentleman, and who chooses to devote his capital to agriculture may be properly designated a _farming-gentleman_, though the occupation of a large estate without those qualifications can never const.i.tute a _gentleman_-farmer. _Tenant-farmer_, a phrase which has lately been in the mouth of every politician, is as fine a piece of tautology as 'coat-making tailor' or 'shoe-mending cobbler' would be.

"It maketh me laugh to see," says Sir John Ferne's _Columel_, "a jolly peece of worke it were, to see plow-men made Gentle-men!"

[247] Quoted by Blackstone.

[248] Page 89 et seq.

[249] He was living in 1638, and was son, brother, and uncle to three successive earls of Huntingdon. An account of him coinciding in many particulars with the one here given is painted in gold letters beneath an original portrait in the possession of his descendants: it is said to have been written by the celebrated earl of Shaftesbury. (Vide Bell's Huntingdon Peerage.)

[250] "The hall of the Squire," says Aubrey, "was usually hung round with the insignia of the squire's amus.e.m.e.nts, such as hunting, shooting, fishing, &c.; but in case he were Justice of Peace it was _dreadful to behold_. The skreen was garnished with corslets and helmets, gaping with open mouths, with coats of mail, launces, pikes, halberts, brown bills, bucklers, &c."

[251] Glory of Generositie, p. 15.

[252] The vignette is copied from the common seal of the College, which has the following legend in Roman characters:

+ SIGILLVM COMMVNE CORPORACIONIS OFFICII ARMORVM.

[253] Dallaway.

[254] The former appellation was given to this mansion because it was originally the inn or town residence of Sir John Poulteney, who flourished under Edward III, and was four times lord mayor. Stowe calls it Cole-Herbert, but by other authors it is generally spelt as in the text.

The name Cold-Harbour is common to many _farms_ in the southern counties of England. There are several in Suss.e.x which are by no means remarkable for the bleakness of their situation, and a house in Surrey bearing this singular designation is placed in a remarkably sheltered spot, at the foot of a range of hills. Harbour means not only a sea-port or haven, but any place of shelter or retreat: the epithet 'cold' is doubtless a corruption of some other word.

[255] The t.i.tle of Surroy was changed to Clarenceux by Henry V, in compliment to his brother Thomas, duke of Clarence; the first king of this name having been the private herald attached to the duke's establishment.

[256] Quoted by Dall. p. 141.

[257] At modern funerals it is no part of the heralds' duty to render their 'coats' _guttee des larmes_!

[258] Equal, probably, to 1200 or 1500, at the present value of money.

[259] After the death of Richard upon the field of Bosworth, a pursuivant (perhaps one of his own creation) was employed to carry his remains to Leicester. "His body naked to the skinne, not so much as one clout about him," says Stowe, "was trussed behinde a _Pursuivant of Armes_, like a hogge or calfe."

[260] Among the Dugdale MSS. are the following memoranda of Tong, Norroy, made during a visitation of Lancashire, temp. Henry VIII: "John Talbot of Salebury, a verry gentyll Esqwyr, and well worthye to be takyne payne for." "Sir John Townley of Townley. I sought hym all day rydynge in the wyld contrey, and his reward was ij{s}, whyche the gwyde had the most part, and I had as evill a jorney as ever I had." "Sir R. H. Knyght. The said Sir R. H. has put awaye the lady his wyffe, and kepys a concobyne in his howse, by whom he has dyvers children. And by the lady aforsayd he has Leyhall, whych armes he berys quarterde with hys in the furste quarter. He sayd that Master Garter lycensed hym so to do, and he gave Mr. Garter an angell n.o.ble, but he gave me nothing, nor made me no good cher, but gave me prowde words." Certes _he_ was a very naughty and '_un_gentyll Esqwyr.'

[261] It frequently happened in those days, as well as at the present time, that parties used arms for which they had no authority either from grant or antient usage. These were publicly disclaimed by the heralds who made visitation. In a copy of the Visitation of Wiltshire, in 1623, are the names of no less than fifty-four persons so disclaimed at Salisbury.

(Montagu's Guide, p. 21.)

[262] n.o.ble, p. 105. In these heraldric displays the arms of the sovereign generally found a conspicuous place. "The royal arms placed over doors or upon buildings was an antient mode of denoting that they were under the protection of the sovereign. When some troops of a tyrant were ravaging the estates of the Chartreuse de Montrieu, the monks had recourse to the antient remedy. They put up the arms of the king over the gate of the house; but the depredators laughed at it, saying that it might have been efficacious in times past (que cela etoit bon autrefois) and persecuted them with more severity." (Mem. de Petrarque, quoted by Fosbroke.)

[263] Hist. Coll. Arms, 102.

[264] Ib. 102.

[265] Ib. 107.

[266] Mr. Woodham, in his tract (No. 4 of the publications of the Cambridge Antiq. Soc.) says, "The styles of blazonry admit of cla.s.sification like those of Gothic Architecture. The bare deviceless ordinaries agree with the st.u.r.dy pier and flat b.u.t.tress of the _Norman_ age; the progress of ornament uniting still with chasteness of design may be called _Early English_; the fourteenth century exhibits the perfection of both sciences, as displayed in the highest degree of _Decoration_ consistent with purity; and the mannerism of Henry VIII's time, with its crowded field and acc.u.mulated charges, is as essentially _Florid_ and flamboyant as any panelling or tracery in the kingdom." (p. 11.)

[267] See Chapter XII.

[268] A 'Society for the Suppression of Duelling,' lately established, enrols among its members many of the greatest and best men of our times.

All success to it!

[269] That the College at this period comprised several officers of unimpeachable integrity cannot be doubted, while it is equally certain (at least, according to popular opinion) that others were less scrupulous. "An herald," says Butler:

"An herald Can make a gentleman scarce a year old To be descended of a race Of antient kings in a small s.p.a.ce."

And,