Dec. 2. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



43r 



LOifDON, SATURDAY,, DECEMBER 2. 1854. 



mCHOLAS UPTON, THE FATHER OF HEBALDIC 

 LITEBATURE. 



There are few lovers of heraldic pursuits who 

 have not frequently heard of Dr. Nicholas Upton, 

 the first English writer of any note upon this ap- 

 parently dry, but in reality most interesting, study. 

 He is supposed to have been a native of Devon- 

 shire, and to have been a younger son of Upton of 

 Puslinch, in that county, a cadet of the still older 

 family of Upton of Trelaske, county Cornwall. 

 Be that as it may, — and it is certainly, so far, an 

 open question what county may claim the honour 

 of his birth, — our author became early in life a 

 companion in arms of Thomas de Montacute, Earl 

 of Salisbury, and served with that nobleman in 

 the French wars, though whether in a military or 

 clerical capacity is not now clearly definable. 

 Certain it is he was honoured with the patronage 

 and friendship of Humphrey Plantagenet, " the 

 good " Duke of Gloucester, to whom he dedicated 

 his Tractatus de Armis, et Libellus de Officio Mi- 

 litari, a work written during his campaign with 

 the army in France. 



In the dedication, which, together with the re- 

 mainder of the work, is in Latin, he apostrophises 

 his patron as " that excellent prince, my singular 

 and illustrious Lord Humphrey, the son, brother, 

 and uncle of a king, Duke of Gloucester, Earl of 

 Pembroke, and Great Chamberlain of England." 

 By Duke Humphrey's influence Upton was, on 

 his return from the wars, made Canon of Salisbury, 

 Wells, and St. Paul's, and would probably have 

 attained to still higher dignities, had not his 

 patron's death inopportunely occurred to prevent 

 his farther rise. Mr. Lower, in his Curiosities of 

 Heraldry^ pronounces the latinity of Upton to be 

 " very classical and pure for the age in which he 

 lived," and that his treatise " forms altogether a 

 systematic grammar of heraldry." It was printed 

 in 1654 by Sir Edward Bysshe, Garter, and is 

 now, I believe, somewhat scarce. Mr. Lower 

 mentions MS. copies of the work as existing in 

 the College of Arms and elsewhere. I myself 

 possess one of these MS. copies, made by Baddes- 

 worth in 1458, in beautiful condition, and in the 

 original binding, with all the arms neatly executed 

 in trick. On the fly-leaf is the following auto- 

 graph note : 



" Liber mei Robti Treswell Somersettivus heraldus ad 

 arma Serenissimse Reginae Elisabeth, et quern mihi dedit 

 Air. Hals generosus primo die Aprilis, anno Incarnat. 

 Christ. 1598." 



Below, in a much later hand, apparently of the 

 last century, I find the autograph of "Robert 

 Walker." 



I shall be pleased if this rambling Note proves 

 the means of eliciting where the other MS. copies 

 of this work, if more there be, are at present lo- 

 cated. My copy is certainly coeval with the 

 author himself, and may possibly have been tran- 

 scribed under his own immediate sanction and 

 superintendence. T. Hughes. 



Chester. 



[In the Harleian MS. 3504. will be found the follow- 

 ing : " ] . Tractatus de armis Nic. Upton, &c., in 4 books, 

 extending to 198 leaves. Liber 1. De coloribus in armis 

 depictis, et eorum nobilitate et differentia. 2. De regulis 

 in signis et {irmis depictis. 3. De auimalibus et avibus 

 in armis portatis, et eorum proprietatibus. 4. De vete- 

 ranis quos modo Haraldos appellamus." In the Cottonian 

 MS. Nero, C. III. : " Nicolaus Upton, ecclesiar. cathed. 

 Sarum et Wellensis canonicus, de armis et pertinentibus 

 ad officium militate ; quatuor libris, viz. (in pergamena), 

 (a.) De officio militari. (6.) De^bello justo, et ejus spe- 

 ciebus. (c.) De coloribus in armis depictis, et eorum 

 nobilitate ac differentia, (d.) De diversis signis in armis 

 depictis."] 



OBIGINAIi ENGLISH ROYAL LETTERS TO THE GRAND 

 MASTERS OF MALTA. 



(Continued from Vol. ix., p. 445.) 

 No. XVIIL 



James the Second by the grace of God, of Great 



Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender 



of the Faith. 



To the most illustrious and most high Prince, 

 the Lord Eugenius Caraffa, Grand Master of the 

 Order of Malta, our well-beloved cousin and 

 friend — Greeting : 



Most illustrious, most high Prince, our well- 

 beloved cousin and friend. 



As the letter of your highness, expressive of 

 your highness' grief at the decease of our much- 

 beloved brother of happy memory, is an undoubted 

 proof of that friendship with which your highness 

 honoured him while living, so your second letter, 

 in which your highness congratulates us on our 

 succession to his crown and kingdoms, is abun- 

 dant testimony of your highness' respect and 

 affection towards us. We also on our part are 

 desirous that your highness should rest persuaded 

 that we shall willingly embrace every opportunity 

 to evince in every possible manner in how great 

 esteem we hold your highness' person, and how 

 dear to us are all the interests of the military 

 Order of St. John the Baptist, on account of its 

 high merits, and the valiant deeds it has perf )rmed 

 for the benefit of the world, and the Christian 

 faith.* 



* Whether Gerard, in selecting his patron saint, had 

 reference to St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, 

 or to a pious inhabitant of Cyprus, sumamed the Almoner, 

 who was canonised for his many Christian deeds, is now 

 a matter of doubt. Hallam has stated that it was the 

 Cyprist saint, and when ive trace the similarity of cha- 



