JANUARY 33 



heraldry.' Nevertheless, the prominence of supporters 

 impresses the uninstructed beholder with the notion 

 that they are the most important part of a coat of arms. 

 In the royal arms of Great Britain and Ireland, for 

 instance, ' the lion and the unicorn fighting for the 

 Crown ' quite eclipse the leopards of England, the lion 

 of Scotland, and the harp of Brian Boruimhe. Yet, 

 although the bearings of these three realms have 

 remained the same for centuries, the supporters have 

 been subject to frequent change. Henry iv. of 

 England displayed an antelope and a swan when he 

 was Duke of Hereford; when he became king he 

 adopted the two angels of his predecessor, Richard ii., 

 who was probably the first king of England to use these 

 exterior ornaments. Henry v., the hero of Agincourt, 

 assumed a lion and an antelope ; pious and ill-starred 

 Henry vi. had two antelopes, although some, says 

 Nisbet, have identified the animal supporting his arms 

 on the sinister side, over the gateway of Eton College, 

 as ' a leopard spotted proper, with fire issuing out of his 

 mouth and ears.' Forasmuch as few persons can have 

 witnessed a leopard suffering under so exceptional an 

 affliction, and as the sculptor probably never saw an 

 antelope in the flesh, it is inevitable that there should 

 be some ambiguity about the precise animal repre- 

 sented. It may therefore be relegated to the same 

 category of enigma as that wherein the Man in the 

 Iron Mask and the author of Junius's letters have 

 figured for so long. 



Edward iv. was a hedonist in the matter of sup- 

 porters, discarding one pair after another as lightly as 



C 



