2»d S. IX. June 23. 'CO.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



489 



tbat Francis was Bifrons, and Bifrons Junius, 

 ergo Francis was Junius. But if Mr. Wade tells 

 truth, the author's fine-spun theory must fall ; for 

 in that gentleman's note on p. 175. of vol. ii. of 

 Bohn's WoodfaWs Junius, he says : — 



" But Francis is not known to have been in Paris 

 that year (1761); he is known to have been with Lord 

 Kinnoul at Lisbon, from which city he returned to Eng- 

 land in October." 



Eric. 



Ville-Marie, Canada. 



THE LABEL IS HERALDRY. 

 (2 nd S. ix. 80. 131. 231.) 



In a very interesting paper communicated by 

 J. R. Plancbe, Esq., F.S.A., on li Early Ar- 

 morial Bearings," and read by him at the Win- 

 chester Congress of the Brit. Archaeol. Assoc, in 

 1845, tbat gentleman fairly demonstrates that the 

 usual divisions of the shield in modern heraldry, 

 as well as some of the minor charges, crosses, 

 annulets, mascles, &c, owe their origin to the neces- 

 sity for strengthening the long kite-shaped shield 

 in use in the earlier ages of chivalry ; and I refer 

 to it to show the probability tbat to some such 

 necessity as that of distinction on the field, and 

 not to the source suggested by M. G, we owe the 

 adoption of the label in heraldry, as the first of 

 a series of distinguishing marks afterwards de- 

 veloped into a system technically termed " Dis- 

 tinctions of Houses," and more generally known 

 in the present day as " Differences," or marks of 

 " Cadency." They consist chiefly of the label, 

 crescent, mullet, martlet, annulet, and fleur-de-lis, 

 for descendants in the first, second, third genera- 

 tion, and so on, — the next race doubling the dis- 

 tinction, as, a crescent on a crescent, &c. 



Mr. Plancbe adduces an instance of the early 

 use of the label from the Boll of Caerlaverock : — 



" Maurice de Berkeley had a banner red as blood, 

 cruselly, with a white chevron, and a blue label because 

 his father was alive." 



He farther adds, on the authority of Upton, 

 that the use of the label implies the bearing of a 

 second son, generally one of three points (the 

 eldest bearing a crescent or some other small dif- 

 ference) ; the third son one of four points ; the 

 next generation substituting a border for dif- 

 ference, which then became hereditary. The ac- 

 cidental origin of the label, otherwise Lambel or 

 file of three points, or Lambrequins (for all these 

 terms are met with), as shown in the quotations 

 given by your correspondents from older authors, 

 is generally assumed to be the correct one by 

 modern writers, — Sir Bernard Burke defining it to 

 be " a piece of silk, stuff, or linen, with three 



Sendants, generally used as a mark of cadency." 

 r icliolls (vide Compendium, 2nd ed. 1727, vol. iii.) 

 says : — 



" The label is of such dignity that the son of au em- 

 peror cannot bear a difference of higher esteem ; but the 

 label of three points is not always borne the first of the 

 Differences only, but is also borne in armory as a charge, 

 and the French take it for a scarf or ribbon, which young 

 men wore anciently about the neck of their helmets (as 

 we now do cravats), with points hanging down, when 

 they went to the wars, or to military exercise, in com- 

 pany with their fathers, by which they were distinguished 

 from them." 



Instances in proof of the statement that the 

 label is sometimes borne as a charge may be 

 found in the arms of existing .families, such as 

 Prideaux, Barrington, St. Lo, &c. ; and as an 

 illustration of the extended use of the label borne 

 as a difference and a confirmation of the " dig- 

 nity " attaching to its use in heraldry (above that 

 conferred on it by the Princes of Wales, who 

 have borne it from the time of Edward III. — "a 

 label of three points plain"), I would refer to the 

 differences borne by the princes and princesses 

 of royal blood in the last generation, each bearing 

 a label of three points charged with some distin- 

 guishing device (roses, fleurs-de-lis, &c. — the late 

 King William III. when Duke of Clarence, a cross 

 between two anchors), excepting only the late 

 Duke of Gloucester, who bore (in addition to the 

 Prince of Wales' label, one of three pqints plain,) 

 a label of Jive points variously charged to mark 

 his descent from the Prince of Wales, eldest son of 

 George II., of whom his father was third son, and 

 therefore brother of King George III. It may 

 not be unnecessary to add in conclusion tbat in 

 the case of families undoubtedly descended from 

 one common ancestor, the descent of each branch 

 is not sometimes to be traced by variations in the 

 coat armour borne by each family — the insignia 

 belonging to the name being borne in common by 

 all, without any difference or mark of cadency ; 

 the wide-spread and honourable house of Wynd- 

 ham, for instance, bearing universally the chevron 

 and lions' heads for arms, the lion's head and fet- 

 terlock slightly varied in some cases for crest, and 

 au bon di-oit for motto. In the case of Prideaux, 

 the difference of the label, though borne as a per- 

 manent charge, marks the fact that two lines at 

 least of the elder stock have become extinct, 

 though the arms now borne by that family are 

 assigned by Burke to Orcharton, whose heiress 

 married Herden Prideaux towards the close of 

 the twelfth century. The same may be said of 

 Barrington, the direct line having failed on the 

 death of the fifth baronet of the name, at the 

 commencement of the last century. 



Henry W. S. Taylor. 

 Portswood Park. 



BALK, AND PIGHTEL OR PIKLE: VENTILATE. 

 (2" d S. ix. 443.) 

 The first of these words I have not heard used 

 by rustics for a long time, but when in use it 



