HERALDRY. 



If they be Or, they are called .Bezants. 



Urgent Plates. 



Gules, Torteauxes. 



Azure, Hurts. 



Sable, Pellets. 



I'ert, Pomeys. 



Purpure, Golpes. 



Tenne, ... Oranges. 



Sanguine, Guzes. 



Bezants represent pieces of gold, or silver, in coat 

 armour. Torteauxes are supposed to represent was- 

 te U, or cakes of bread. Rings and annulets were 

 marks of nobility among the Romans, and became 

 the prizes of tournaments and jousts; whence they 

 were naturally transferred to coat armour ; and, when 

 these annulets, or great rings, are borne one within 

 another, they are termed, by the French, vires. 



Guttees. Guttees are figures which represent 

 drops; and, like the roundFes, they vary in their 

 names according to the tincture, as follow : 

 If they be Or, they are called Guttees d'or. 



Argent, Guttees d 'eau. 



Gules, Guttees de sang . 



Azure, Guttees de larmes. 



Sable, Guttees de poix. 



f^'ert, Guttees d' olive. 



Charges are the figures of natural and artificial 

 things, which are called common charges, because 

 they are common to other sciences as well as heraldry. 

 Animals are blazoned, as to their posture and actions, 

 as follow : rampant, as a lion rampant, (see plate 45,) 

 when he is erect standing on one of his hind legs ; 

 sejant, or sitting, as a lion sejant ; couchant, i. e., 

 lying at rest, with the head erect ; passant, in a walk- 

 ing position ; gardant, looking full-faced ; rampant 

 gardant, erect and looking full-faced ; rampant re- 

 gardant, erect and looking behind ; saliant, in a 

 leaping posture ; tripping is said of the stag, as in 

 plate 45 ; courant, of the stag, and other animals, 

 running ; at gaze, of the stag when he looks full- 

 faced ; lodged, of the stag when at rest on the ground ; 

 volant, of birds in general in a flying posture ; rising, 

 of a bird that is preparing to fly ; hauriant, of fishes 

 when erect paleways ; naiant, swimming of fishes. 

 To these may be added other blazons of animals 

 generally, as dormant, for a sleeping posture ; ad- 

 dor -sed, for two animals back to back; nowed, i. e., 

 knotted like a serpent ; counter-passant, for two ani- 

 mals walking different ways ; so counter-saliant, 

 counter-tripping, &c. The teeth and claws of lions, 

 and other ravenous beasts, are called their arms; and, 

 when they are of a different tincture, they are said 

 to be armed ; and, if their tongue be of a different 

 tincture, they are said to be langued. Tame animals, 

 as the ox, ram, &c., which are furnished with horns 

 and hoofs different from their bodies, are said to be 

 armed, unguled, or hoofed, of such and such a tinc- 

 ture ; but deer are said to be attired on account of 

 their antlers. Dogs, in respect to their kind, are 

 blazoned beating, coursing, scenting, &c. The beaks 

 and talons of birds of prey are termed their arms ; 

 whence they are said to be armed and membered ; 

 and tame birds, on the contrary, are said to be beaked 

 and membered: but the cock is said to be armed 

 crested, andjellopped, i. e., armed, for his beak and 

 spurs ; crested, on account of his comb ; and jellop- 

 ped, on account of his wattles. The falcon is gene- 

 rally borne the same as the eagle, and blazoned in 

 the same terms, except when he has a hood, bells, 

 virols, or rings, and leashes, in which case he is saic 

 to be hooded, belled, jessed, and leashed; when in the 

 act of striking his prey, he is said to be pouncing 

 When the heads of animals are borne they are saic 

 to be couped, if cut evenly- off ; or couped dose, i 



cut close ; caboshed, when the head is cut off close 

 irhiml the ears ; and trunked, in particular, of bulls' 

 leads ; erased, if the head seem to be violently torn 

 rom the body. When the whole foreleg of a lion, 

 >r other beast, is borne in arms, it is termed a jamb ; 

 and, if couped, or erased, near the middle joint, it is 

 a paw. When the arm of a man is borne, it is either 

 erect, when couped at the elbow ; or embowed, when 

 t forms an elbow ; dexter for the right arm, ami 

 sinister for the left. The temples of a man are said 

 .o be wreathed when decorated with laurel, oak, ivy, 

 As to his whole dress, a man is said to be 

 naked, or habited, rustre, in armour, or in robes. 

 Animals in general are said to be crined, which have 

 the hair of a different tincture ; sometimes they are 

 said to be dismembered, when they are cut in pieces, 

 jut not so as altogether to destroy the form ; and 

 debruised, when a bend, or any ordinary, is placed 

 over them. The wings of birds are said to be 

 displayed, when their wings are expanded ; close, 

 when they sit close to the body; indorsed, when 

 they sit back to back ; erect, when the points of the 

 wings are upwards ; inverted, when the position is 

 reversed, or the points downwards. Fishes are said 

 to be finned, if the fins are of a particular tincture. 

 Of heavenly bodies, the sun is said to be in his meri- 

 dian, or his glory, or in an eclipse, &c. ; the moon, 

 crescent, increscent, or decrescent; a comet, streaming, 

 Sic. Of vegetables, the tree is said to be fructed, if 

 bearing fruit ; acorned, if bearing acorns ; raguled 

 and trunked, when its limbs are cut off, leaving only 

 the stumps ; eradicated, when torn up by the roots, 

 blasted, withered, &c.; a branch is said to be slipped, 

 leaved, &c. ; leaves and flowers are said to be pen- 

 dant, or erect, &c. The sheaves of corn are termed 

 garbs. If any thing seems to be proceeding from 

 another, it is termed issuant, as " An arm imbowed 

 issuant ;" an arrow is said to be barbed and feather- 

 ed ; a castle is said to be towered ; a key, endorsed; 

 colours, disvelopped ; a weapon, imbrued, that is 

 bloody ; a horse, furnished, when bridled, saddled, 

 and completely caparisoned. When the field is 

 divided into four quarters, it is said to be quarterly 

 when they have each their charges ; these are said 

 to be on the first, i. e., on the field of the first quar 

 ter ; on the second, i. e., the field of the second ; and, 

 when there are several metals, or tinctures, of the 

 first, it is said to denote the first mentioned ; and of 

 the last, to signify the last mentioned. 



Exterior ornaments of the Escutcheon. The exte- 

 rior ornaments of the escutcheon are the helmet, 

 mantling, crest, escroll, wreath, motto, supporters, 

 cap of dignity and crown, which are denominated by 

 the general name of timbres, from the Teutonic tim- 

 ner, signifying a top or summit ; whence to timbre the 

 arms is to adorn them with helmet, mantle, crest, &c. 



Helmet. The helmet, which is placed on the top 

 of the escutcheon, varies both in form and the mate- 

 rials of which it is made. Those of sovereign princes 

 are of gold, those of the nobility of silver, and those 

 of gentlemen of polished steel. The full-faced hel- 

 met, with six bars, as in plate 45, is for the king and 

 princes of the blood ; the side-long helmet, with five 

 bars, is for dukes and marquises, &c. The full-faced 

 helmet of steel, with its beaver or vizor open, is for 

 knights; and the side-long helmet, with the vizor 

 shut, for the esquire. 



Mantling. The mantling, or mantle, was anciently 

 fixed to the helmet, to which it served as a covering. 

 Mantlings are now used like cloaks, to cover the 

 whole achievement. The mantle in blazon is said to 

 be doubled, i. e., lined throughout with some of the 

 favours above-named. The common tincture, or 

 colour of these, both for nobility and gentlemen, is 

 gules, but the King's is cloth of gold 



