83 



generis."* But a passage of Euripides, a poet far more antient, 

 approaches still nearer to the description of a modem gentilitial 

 atchievement ; in it a leader is described as bearing in the midst 

 of his shield, not merely an individual distinction, or a national 

 emblem, but his family device ; 



Ewitr^fji,' oiKiiov iyiiv III (/,t<ra (tUku. 



It is foreign from my present purpose to follow these autho- 

 rities farther. It is obvious that the use of family arms grew out 

 of the practice of bearing devices as the insignia of individuals, 

 but at no fixed point of time. A gradual and imperceptible 

 growth is of the very essence of custom ; and, as the peculiarities 

 of modern Heraldry are of different dates, the art also established 

 itself by degress. 



We meet with notices yet earlier in sacred history, of armorial 

 emblems having been continued to be borne by the descendants of 

 those whom they first distinguished ; such are " the ensignsj of 

 their father's house," which formed the standards of the several 

 tribes of Israel : but, as these tribes were numerous states, as well 

 as descendants each from the common individual who first as- 

 sumed the device, these bearings were as much ethnical as gen- 

 tilitial. I may therefore pass to the consideration of national 



emblems. 



M 2 



* Metam. Lib. VII. See also Mn&A VII. 657, where Aventinus is described as bear- 

 ing upon his shield " insigne paternum,'' the " centum angues, cinctamque serpentibus 

 Hydram" of his ancestor Hercules ; and, Bryant's Mythology, v. 1. p. 488, &c. 



f Phoen. lin. 1112. 



X Exod. I. 52. and II. 2. 



