26 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Ireland. On the painting at Placentia the first quarter is subdivided 

 " per pale," that is to say, by a line drawn perpendicularly through the 

 middle of it, and on the dexter side (the left hand as we look at it) 

 are inscribed the Arms of England; on the sinister (the right as we 

 look at it) those of Scotland. See figures 1, 3 or 18.) The reason for 

 this change will be .explained immediately. 



The Arms of England 



are blazoned, or described in heraldic language, as follows: — 



Gules, three lions passant guardant Or: in pale. For the benefit 

 of the uninitiated, this may be explained thus: — On a red ground there 

 are three lions in gold or yellow colour passing or walking towards the 

 left hand, and looking full face at the beholder. These lions are placed 

 one above the other in the centre line of the shield. 



Among the symbols or emblems used in heraldry the lion was a 

 very popular and much used one, being the representative of strength 

 and courage. There is a roll of Arms drawn up in the reign of Henr}' 

 III., between 1243 and 1246, containing the blazons of 218 coats of 

 Arms, and no less than forty of them exhibit the lion in one form or 

 another. 



The lions on the English Arms were those of Normandy, and are 

 supposed to have been brought over by William the Conqueror ; but they 

 were originally only two and they were not lions but leopards, or, as 

 the French called them, lionceaux. The first reliable mention we find 

 of them in connection with English History is in a description given by 

 the Monk of Marmoutiers of the enrollment of Geoffry, Count of Anjou, 

 the father of Henry II., Plantagenet, into the order of Chivalry. His 

 shield is described as having " leunculos aureos imaginarios " — " imagin- 

 ary little lions (or leopards) of gold." These animals, like the grif&ns, 

 are partly fabulous. They are called leones Icopardes. They are a cross 

 between the lion and pard. The pard is a name given indiscriminately 

 to the tiger, panther, leopard, jaguar, cat-a-mountain, and such like. It 

 is alluded to by Shakespeare in the well-known passage from "' As you 

 like it." — Act II., Scene 7, describing the ages of man. The fourth 

 age is : — 



"A Soldier" 

 " FuU of strange oaths and bearded like the pard." 



The third lion was added by Richard Cœur de Lion, after his 

 return from captivity, 1194. King John before coming to the throne 

 signed or sealed with two lions, but after he became king he used three, 

 and so the seal has remained ever since. 



