July 23. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



85 



Henry VII. would probably desire by every 

 means in his power to suppress anything sugges- 

 tive of his unsubstantial title to the crown. It 

 might be by his particular desire that his mother 

 assumed the full regal shield, on which to emblazon 

 arms differing but slightly from those of her son, 

 the king. 



It is not, however, my opinion that the form of 

 shield under consideration is anything like so 

 ancient as some of the authors would make it. I 

 do not believe it comes to us either from the 

 Amazons or the Romans. 



My own opinion, in the absence of any from the 

 great writers to guide me, is, that we owe the 

 use of this form of shield amongst ladies to hatch- 

 ments OY funeral achievements. During the time of 

 mourning for persons of rank, their coats of arms 

 are set up in churches and over the principal 

 entrances of their houses. On these occasions it is 

 well known their arms are always placed in a large 

 black lozenge ; a form adopted as the most proper 

 figure for admitting the coats of arms of sixteen 

 ancestors to be placed round it, four on each of 

 the sides of the square. 



It was not until the reign of Richard III. that 

 the College of Arms was regularly incorporated ; 

 and though the science of heraldry received its 

 highest polish during the splendid reigns of 

 Edward III. and Henry V., it had yet scarcely 

 been subjected to those rules which since the 

 establishment of the College have controlled it. 

 Mark Noble, in \nsHistoi-y of the College ofArms^ 

 says that the latter reign — 



" If it did not add to the wealth of the nation at 

 large, gave rise to a number of great families, enriched 

 by the spoils of Azincourt, the plunder of France, and 

 the ransom of princes. The heraldic body was pecu- 

 liarly prized and protected by the king, who, however, 

 was very whimsical in the adoption of cognizances and 

 devices." 



During the greater portion of the fourteenth 

 century, and the early part of the fifteenth, there 

 was a rage for jousts, tilts, and tournaments ; and 

 almost every English nobleman had his officers of 

 arms ; dukes, marquesses, and earls were allowed 

 a herald and pursuivant ; the lower nobility, and 

 even knights, might retain one of the latter. To 

 these ofiicers belonged the ordering of everything 

 relating to the solemn and magnificent funerals, 

 which were so general in these centuries, and 

 which they presided over and marshalled. 



During the reign of Edward IV. the exact form 

 of these obsequies was prescribed. Not only were 

 the noblemen's own heralds there, but the king's 

 also : and not in tabards bearing the sovereign's, 

 but the deceased's arms. 



So preposterously fond of funeral rites were 

 monarchs and their subjects, that the obsequies of 

 princes were observed by such sovereigns as were 

 m alliance with them, and in the same state as if 



the royal remains had been conveyed from one 

 Christian kingdom to another. Individuals had 

 their obsequies kept in various places where they 

 had particular connexions.* 



Is it too much then to presume that in the 

 midst of all this pomp and affectation of grief, the 

 hatchment of the deceased nobleman would be 

 displayed as much, and continued as long, as pos- 

 sible by the widow ? May we not reasonably 

 believe that these ladies would vie with each 

 other in these displays of the insignia of mourning, 

 until, by usage, the lozenge-shaped hatchment 

 became the shield appropriated to the sex ? 



These hypotheses are not without some found- 

 ation ; but if any of your correspondents will 

 enunciate another theory, I shall be glad to give 

 it my support If it is found to be more reasonable 

 than the foregoing. Broctuna. 



Bury, Lancashire. 



PHOTOGRAPniC CORRESPONDENCE. 



Multiplication of Photographs. — In Vol. vlli., 

 p. 60. is a letter from Mr. John Stewart of Pan 

 suggesting certain modes of operating in pro- 

 ducing positive photographs, and which sugges- 

 tions are apparently offered as novelties, when, in 

 fact, they have been for some considerable time ia 

 pi-actlce by other manipulators. Of course, I do 

 not suppose that they are otherwise regarded by 

 Mr. Stewart than as novelties, who cannot be 

 acquainted with what is doing here ; but it ap- 

 pears to me desirable to discriminate between facta 

 that are absolutely, and those that are relatively 

 new. 



Most of the transparent stereoscopic photographs 

 sold in such numbers by all our eminent opticians, 

 are actually produced in the way recommended 

 by Mr. Stewart ; and reduced copies of photo- 

 graphs, &c., have been produced in almost every 

 possible variety by Dr. Diamond, and many 

 others of our most eminent photographers. Very 

 early in the history of this science, the idea was 

 suggested by Mr. Fox Talbot himself, of taking 

 views of a small size, and enlarging them for mul- 

 tiplication ; and, if I am rightly informed, Mr. 

 Ross was applied to to construct a lens specially 

 for the purpose. Some months back, as early at 

 least as March or April in the present year, Mr. 

 F. H. Wenham actually printed on common chlo- 

 ride paper a life-size positive from a small nega- 

 tive on collodion ; and immediately afterwards 

 adopted the use of iodized paper for the same pur- 

 pose ; and after he had exhibited the proofs, I 

 myself repeated the experiment. In fact, had 

 there been time at the last meeting of the Photo- 

 graphic Society, a paper on this very subject 

 Avould have been read by Mr. Wenham ; but the 



* Noble. 



