HERALDRY, 
pet cc te estat ran 
. ‘consanguinity ” 
be an Arms 
Of the Shield, Surcoat, and Ensign. 
' 21, These are called by heralds the three principal 
signs of honour, in as much as arms have been common- 
ly on them. The shield gone ee deemed 
to enccan cox apc kw ce of the body, 
and an honourable badge was judged by all nations the 
most convenient tabula to contain marks of valour and 
honour, and therefore it is considered as the most pro- 
and. principal of all the heraldic signs of honour. 
istorians furnish us with various forms. of shields 
used by the ancients; but at the time when armorial 
yar were first instituted in the way already de- 
ri and came to be considered all over Europe as 
tessere gentililie, and hereditary marks of honour, 
shields, for the most part, were triangular, as may be 
seen, on the most antique monuments, seals, &c..;* ac- 
cordingly the shield so shaped is called by the French 
the ancien ecu. From eam a a lar form came the 
custom in ag ef of putting greater number of 
figures above, the below, as three, two, one. 
In subsequent times, a form of shield became more pre-~ 
valent, square, rounded, and pointed at the end: dame 
are most common in this island, and in France. The 
, Germans make most use of the shield. chancre, with 
bulgings and notches derived from their tournaments, 
The Italians have mostly the oval shield. See Plate 
€CXCL. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 
The surcoat is a loose thin taffety gown, used former~ 
ly over armour, upon which the arms of the bearer 
were comm painted or embroidered, that they 
might be distinguished in. time of battle ; a memorable 
instance of the use of which we have preserved in the 
history of the Chevalier Bayard. These surcoats were 
much like those now worn by heralds. 
The third is the Ensian, under which general name 
are the varieties of Stanparp, Banner, 
Pennon, Gipson, and Gonranon. 
The gonfanon is a banner of the church, square, but 
having three labels, or fanons, and the bearer thereof is 
call ' 
the gonfaloniere. 
Arms, have also been ted. anci on the 
furniture of horses, as in the seals of Alexander II. of 
Scotland, Edward I, of d, the two De Qui 
1 Eee aenenen, » &e, See Plate CCXCI. 
ig. 2. 
. Women place their arms on a lozenge, (See Fig. 7.) 
which is a square figure with one of its angles upper- 
most; or on a fusil, which is a of the same na- 
ture, but longer than it is broad. The old writers, par- 
of is he more pleased wi 
719 
ticularly Sylvanus Morgan, in his Nobility native, or Heraldry. 
Adam's coat, are pleased to derive the common form of "Vv" 
the man’s escu from the spade of Adam, and of 
the woman’s lozenge from Eve's spindle; but, as Nis- 
bet observes, “ these mys are mere fancies.” Neither 
th the sentiments of Sylvester De 
Petro Sancto, who deriveth the from the cushion 
used in sewing, &c. pulvillum in quo exercent mulieres 
linearia opificia. 
Of the Blazoning of Arms. 
22, Blazon, or the art of blazoning of arms, consists in The tine- 
the knowledge of those colours, or metals, which are tures. 
used in the art of heraldry, and of the several lines of 
partition, ordinaries, and ges, whereof the coat is 
composed. 
Of Tinctures. 
23. The colours and metals thus used are most com~ 
monly blazoned by tinctures, which have their properand 
fixed terms taken from the French; which tongue has 
indeed, in consequence of the great excellence of the 
French heraldic writers, become, in some sort, the com- 
mon language of heraldry among all the nations of Eu- 
rope. ‘The terms of these tinctures are these: 
| Or, that is Yellow. 
v ys 8 a Le i . 
2) «Re ae Blue. 
Gules, ae ee ee Red. 
Bybde;s! Oe te Black. 
Vert, or Sinople,. . + . . Green. 
Purpur, . .. .. . + Purple. 
1. Or. This metal is allowed to be the most honour- prare 
able of all the tinctures. In Latin blazonry it is called, CCXCI. 
aureus color, aurum, weap the revi It is Fig. 8. 
known in engravin small points or ticks, Fig. 8. 
2. Argent. In eed argenteus color, albus, and ar- Fig. 9. 
ntum. To mark this colour in engraving, the field is 
fett blank. Fig. 9. 
3. Azure. This is derived from the oriental lazurd, Pig. 10, 
which signifies the heaven or its colour. Lie Latins 
say, ceruleus, cesium, glaucum, cyaneus. is repre- 
pe by horizontal nies. Fig. 10. 
4. Gules, evidently derived from the’ eastern gul, or Fig. 11. 
ghul, which signifies a rose, red, &c. In Latin, co/or 
ear et rubeus, uineus, oy re marked in 
ce by perpendicular lines. Fig. 11. 
5. Sable; comes also from the bok ek word which Fig. 12. 
expresses the same idea, zibe/, zebel, still retained in 
the French, as maitre zebeline, maitre noire; marked by 
cross hatches, perpendicular and horizontal. Fig. 12. 
- 6. Vert, the common French word for green. The Fig: 19. 
French themselves commonly use sinople, a term the 
origin of which has occasioned no small di A 
Some think it is derived from the city of Sinope, in 
Asia, as if the earth there were green ; others esteem it 
derived from the Greek ar oman, arms, This 
also. seems to us to be of Oriental origin, tsin, herb, ver- 
dure; béa, blade: the young blade of grass, which is 
een, Indeed, our own 
always of the most beautifi 
won: green expresses no other idea but that of growing. 
The Latin writers say, viridis or prasinus, It is es 
ed by diagonal lines from right to left. (Fig. 13.) 
7. Purpur, is marked by diagonal lines from left to 
® Spencer gives the Red-cross knight a shield of this form, Fairy Queen, 1, 6, 41, * And catching up in haste hig three-square shield,” 
