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tation of some simple object, whose image would naturally associ- 

 ate with their leader, or their cause.— It was sufficient to acquire for 

 these devices respect, that, assumed as they were at periods the 

 most important in the history of the state, they became the first in 

 the train of grateful association which led to the remembrance of 

 sio-nal events ; -events, too, most frequently connected with the rever- 

 ence attached to a common patriarchal ancestor, to whose cha- 

 racter, or religious doctrines, those signs bore frequent allu- 

 sion. This respect was naturally increased to veneration, when the 

 mist of tradition, which magnified exploits remote in the distance 

 of antiquity, rendered objects of a nature more subtle and refined 

 entirely indistinct. In fine, when the pure religion of the sons of 

 Noah degenerated into Idolatry, the same grossness of mind which 

 transferred worship from an only God to the images by which his 

 attributes were expressed, gave adoration to emblems thus com- 

 bined with so many recollections that were almost sacred. Heathen 

 priestcraft did not neglect their use; and hence it is, that military 

 devices form no inconsiderable proportion of the vocabulary of hie- 

 roglyphic.f I shall now proceed to shew their connexion with the 

 immediate subject of this tract. 



f With regard to the assistance which the study of armorial bearings may afford towards 

 the illustration of history, I may perhaps be indulged in a few remarks. Lord Bacon informs 

 us, (desapientiaveterum,) that the Grecian allegory of Perseus and .Medusa inculcates the 

 advantages of circumspection and alertness in war ; and, that the terrific head of the latter, 

 placed upon her conqueror's shield, enforces this lesson, that " one great action happil} atchieved 

 " is the best means of restraining and preventing the attacks of our enemies.-— We have seen 

 before, in the Fable of Europj, an instance,-while the expedition of the golden fleece, the 

 allegorical symbol of the Hydra of Hercules, and many more, afford us other examples,-that 

 armorial devices are the records of events, and the types of character.-As, therefore, they 

 frequently occur among the newly discovered remains of antient art, they should be well under- 



