( 6i ) 



CHAPTER VI. 



FISH IN HERALDRY.* 



Frequency of Fish-crests — Derived from Names or Puns upon Names 

 — from Privileges of Fishery — from Incidents of Family History 

 — Towns with Fishing Rights — Badges of the Piscatorial Fran- 

 chise — Perpetuation of Old-world Myths — Fishes of Fancy — 

 Mermaids and their Relatives — Crustaceans — Shell-fish and 

 Shells — Fish-bones as a Crest — Fish on Signboards. 



Heraldry has been called " the science of fools with 

 long memories," but, regarded more sympathetically, the 

 title which heralds claim for it, that it is " the shorthand 

 of history," is better deserved. It is an epitome, also, of 

 the strangest fictions and the most beautiful fancies of past 

 times. For though heraldry proper does not date beyond 

 the twelfth century, its subject reaches back through all 

 the world's traditions and myths to the very remotest 

 antiquity. 



Sylvanus Magnus, in his anxiety to prove that Adam 

 was a gentleman, has given him a coat of arms. But 

 heraldry needs no such absurdity of patronage to commend 

 it. For though as a science it may be modern enough, it 

 has been a loadstone both to myths and historical facts, 



* The heraldry of fish is a curious study, and in the works of Moule 

 and Mrs. Bury Palliser is invested with a remarkable interest from the 

 intelligence with which history, folk-lore, legends, and superstitions, 

 are used to illustrate the various devices and to throw light upon both 

 badges and mottoes. In the charming pages of Planchd the facts of 

 heraldry, and the broad rules upon which that fantastic science works, 

 are set forth with a delightful amplitude of queer lore. 



