3 14 UNIVERSAL ERUDITION-. 



IV. This fcience begins therefore by invefti- 

 gating the origin of arms, and for this purpofc 

 it aicends to the higheft antiquity : ieveral 

 curious researches of this nature are to be found 

 in the works of Meneftrier and Varennius. There 

 are fome learned men who pretend to difcover, 

 even in the Old Teftament, traces of the firft 

 ufe of arms. They fuppofe they were firft borne 

 on the fhoe ; and the form of the fhield or coat 

 on which the arms are painted, by its refemblancc 

 to the leather of a fandal or fhoe, they fay con- 

 firms this opinion. The authors who have 

 wrote on this fcience have borrowed the affi- 

 ance of the profane hiftorians of the three ages, 

 and after fhowing that arms have at all times 

 been ufed as reprefentations of the dignity of 

 birth, the nobility, alliances, employments, and 

 great atchievements of illuftrious men, they bring 

 the hiftory of arms down to the prefent times, 

 and mow what are the coats of arms that are 

 now borne by all the fovereign princes of Eu- 

 rope, and even of all the known world : of illuf- 

 trious houfes, of noble families, of countries, 

 provinces and cities, &c. And to a minute 

 defcription of thefe, they add their figures en- 

 graved according to the rules of blazonry. 



V. To acquire a juft knowledge of this art, 

 k is neceflary to begin with the ftudy of its ter- 

 minology, -that is, we fhould learn the terms of 

 blazonry, as well ancient as modern, the num- 

 fcer of which is fo great, that we might eafily 



compofc 



