The Curiosities of Heraldry Part 9

Bull's head--rage.

Goat--policy.

Hart--skill in music.

Horns of stags, &c.--fort.i.tude.

Unicorn--strength.

Lion rampant--courage and generosity.

Lion pa.s.sant--majesty, clemency, circ.u.mspection.

Bear--affection for offspring.

Dog--fidelity, intelligence.

Hedgehog--provident care.

Gra.s.shopper--wisdom.

Serpent--subtlety.

Snail--much deliberation (!) Stork--filial piety, grat.i.tude.

Eagle--a lofty spirit.

Wings--celerity, protection.

Owl--vigilance.

Pelican--love of offspring.

Swallow--industry.

c.o.c.k--courage.

Dolphin--charity.

Crane--civility.

The _wolf_, according to Upton, signifies a _wrangler in parliament_ or a.s.sembly!

It does not seem to have occurred to these allegorizing worthies that the tincture of a charge may be diametrically opposed to the signification a.s.signed to the charge itself. For example, the coat, 'Vert, a bull's head or,' by the armilogical rules cited above, would signify, as to the tinctures, pleasure and joy, while as to the charge it would mean rage and fury. Again, 'Purpure, a wolf argent' would mean "a wrangler with a peaceable disposition!!"

It was my intention to have examined this Language of Arms with more minuteness, but after a little research I find the labour ill-bestowed. He who can relish such far-fetched notions may gratify himself by a perusal of the somewhat rare folio often before quoted, Sylva.n.u.s Morgan's 'Sphere of Gentry,' London, 1661; and still further by that of his supplementary 'Armilogia,' a small quarto published in 1666. These works, with many others of this and the preceding centuries, contain much useful scientific information on Heraldry, and generally evince some scholarship, but they are most unnecessarily blended with what Mr. Moule justly designates "a cabalistic jargon,"[145] that renders it a matter of utter impossibility for any person of ordinary patience to read them through. Guillim, whose work is on the whole the most readable of the number, is not altogether free from this laboured absurdity.

One feature in many of the early works on Heraldry occasionally renders them exceedingly amusing, and may partly countervail the prosy dulness of armilogy--namely, the fancied attributes of visible objects generally, but of animals in particular. Absurdities in Natural History at which a child would now laugh are gravely advanced, and often supported by quotations from Pliny and other cla.s.sical authors. A few specimens from Leigh and Guillim are subjoined.

The =Hart=, saith Avicene, "is never troubled with fevers, because he hath no gall. He hath a bone in his hert, as precious as yvery. He feareth muche the voyce of the foxe, and hateth the serpent. He is long lived. For Aristotle writeth, that Diomedes did consecrate a hart to Diana, with a coller of golde about his necke, which had these wordes, DIOMEDES DIANae.

After whose tyme, almost a thousand yeres, Agathocles the kynge of Sicile did kill the same harte, and offered him up with his coller to Jupiter, in hys temple, which was in Calabria."[146]

"The =Bore= is the ryght Esquier, for he beareth both armor and shielde, and fighteth sternelye. When he determineth to fight, he will frot his left shield the s.p.a.ce of halfe a day, against an oke. Because that when he is streking thereon with the tuskes of his enemy, he shal feele no griefe thereof, and when they have fought one day together then they wil depart of themselves, keping good appointment, to meete in the same place, the next day after, yea, and the third day, till one of them be victor."[147]

Of the =Wolf= he says. "It is sayde, if a man be seene of hym first, the man leseth his voyce. But if the wolfe be scene of manne first, then the wolfe leseth his boldenesse and hardines. Plinie wryteth, he loueth to playe with a chylde, and that he will not hurt it, tyll he be extreame houngry, what time he will not spare to devowre it.... Avicene telleth that he desyreth greatly to eate fishe. And Phisiologus writeth that he may not bend his necke backewarde, in no moneth of the yere but in May....

He enfecteth the wolle of shepe that he byteth, and is adversarye to them and theyr lambes.... There is nothynge that he hateth so much as the knockynge together of two flint stones, the whiche he feareth more then the hunters. Aristotle sayeth that all kinde of wolves are contrary to all kynde of sheepe. For profe wherof Cornelius Agrippa also affirmed that if a man make a string of the wolves guts and put it on the harpe with stringes made of shepes guttes, it will never bee brought with any consent of harmony to agree with the other."[148]

Of the =Raven= Guillim says: "It hath bene an ancient received opinion, and the same also grounded upon the warrant of the sacred scriptures (if I mistake not) that such is the propertie of the Raven, that from the time his young ones are hatched or disclosed, untill he seeth what colour they will be of, he never taketh care of them nor ministreth any food unto them, therefore it is thought that they are in the meane s.p.a.ce nourished with the heavenly dew. And so much also doth the kingly prophet, David, affirme, Which giveth fodder unto the cattell, and feedeth the young Ravens that call upon him. Psal. 147, 9. The Raven is of colour blacke, and is called in Latine, Corvus, or Corax, and (according to Alexander) hath but one kind of cry or sound which is _Cras, Cras_. When he perceiveth his young ones to be pennefeathered and black like himself, then doth he labour by all meanes to foster and cherish them from thence forward."[149]

"Some report that those who rob the =Tiger= of her yong, use a policy to detaine their damme from following them by casting sundry looking-gla.s.ses in the way, whereat shee useth long to gaze, whether it be to behold her owne beauty or because when shee seeth her shape in the gla.s.se, she thinketh she seeth one of her yong ones, and so they escape the swiftnesse of her pursuit. And thus," moralizes our author, "are many deceived of the substance, whiles they are much busied about the shadowes."[150]

The following, however, shows that Master Guillim was growing sceptical of some of the 'vulgar errours' of his day:

"Pierius, in his Hieroglyphicks saith, that if a man stricken of a =Scorpion= sit upon an a.s.se, with his face towards the taile of the a.s.se, his paine shall pa.s.se out of him into the a.s.se, which shall be tormented for him. In my opinion he that will beleeve this, is the creature that must be ridden in this case!"[151]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER VI.

Allusive Arms--Armes Parlantes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Arms of the Family of Dobell.)]

"Non verbis sed _rebus_ loquimur."

Allusive Arms are of two kinds: first, those which contain charges that relate to the character, office, or history of the original bearer; and, secondly, those which convey a direct pun upon his name. Of the former description are the covered cups in the arms of Butler, and the bugle-horns in those of Forester.[152] Several examples of this species of bearings are given in the ninth chapter of this volume under the t.i.tle of 'Historical Arms.' At present, I shall confine myself to the second cla.s.s, which are called, in Latin blazon, Arma Cantantia, in French, Armes Parlantes, and in English, =Canting Arms=. Of this kind we have examples in the arms of Camel, a camel; Colt, 3 colts; Blackmore, 3 Moor's heads, &c.

Dallaway, p.o.r.ny, and other modern writers condemn this species of bearings, as of recent origin, and unworthy of a place amongst the cla.s.sical devices of antient heraldry. p.o.r.ny places them in the category of a.s.sumptive Arms--"such as are taken up by the caprice or fancy of upstarts, though of never so mean extraction." This notion, with whomsoever it originated, is decidedly erroneous, for such charges are found not only in the arms of distinguished n.o.bles and knights in the very earliest days of hereditary armory, but occur also in those of several of the sovereign states of Europe. According to some authors the LIS in the royal arms of France are a play upon the name of Louis, antiently spelt _Loys_. The arms of Spain exhibit, quarterly, a castle and a lion--a pun upon the names of the united provinces of Castile and Leon; and after the conquest of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella, a _pomegranate_ was added in the base of the escocheon. As to canting charges in the arms of subjects, we may observe that, in the earliest Roll of Arms extant, that of the time of Henry III,[153] at least nine such occur. To prove this a.s.sertion, as well as to give the reader a sample of antient blazon, I shall quote them:

Reinold de Moun--de goules ov ung _manche_ d'argent.

Nicholas de Moeles--d'argent a deux barres de goules, a trois _molets_ en le cheif goules.

Geoffrey de Lucy--de goules a trois _lucies_ d'or.

Roger de Merley--barree d'argent et de goulz, a la bordur d'azure, et _merlots_ d'or en le bordur.

Hugh de Ferrers--_Vairre_, de argent et d'azur.

Robert Quency--de Goules ung _quintefueil_ de hermyne.

Thomas Corbett--d'or deux _corbeaux_ noir.

Adam de Swyneburne--de goules a trois testes de _Senglier_ d'argent.

Odinel Heron--d'azur a trois _herons_ d'argent.

In another Roll, made temp. Edw. II., armes parlantes are still more abundant.

Sire Peres Corbeht--de or, a ij _corbils_ de sable.

Sire Robert de Eschales--de goules, a vj _eschalops_ de argent.

_Suths.e.x and Suthreye_:

Sire Johan Heringaud--de azure, crusule de or a vj _harengs_ (herrings) de or.

_Kent_:

Sire Robert de Sevens, de azure, a iij _vans_ de or.

Sire Aumori de Lucy, de azure, crusule de or, a iij _lucys_ de or.

_Barkschire_: