JANUARY 36 



ment, to be displayed with entire propriety on great 

 . occasions, such as a marriage or a funeral, or for 

 the interior decoration of a church or mansion. But 

 it is wholly unsuitable and improper for the original 

 purpose of a shield or banner of arms, which was to 

 enable a knight to be easily recognised in the lists or 

 on the field of battle. For this purpose it is obvious 

 that the simpler his bearings were kept the better, and 

 in all early heraldry the charges are few and distinct. 



' At Doune, o'er many a spear and glaive, 

 Two barons proud their banners wave ; 

 I saw the Moray's silver star. 

 And mark'd the sable pale of Mar.' 



The flower of English chivalry rode with Edward i. to 

 the siege of Oaerlaverock in the year 1300. The anony- 

 mous chronicler of that famous expedition chose to 

 write in Norman- French, and is therefore not to be 

 quoted in this place ; but he describes it as an occasion 

 of quite unusual splendour. Yet, although he blazons 

 the banners of one hundred and six knights brod4 sur 

 sendaus e samis — 'embroidered on silk and satin' — 

 not one of them displayed quartered arms ; each had a 

 plain figure in distinct colours. It was the German 

 heralds of the sixteenth century who first conceived a 

 pedantic delight in cramming as many quarterings as 

 possible into one shield. From Germany this spread 

 to other continental Courts ; it affected English practice 

 to some extent, Scottish practice scarcely at all. The 

 Lyon King of Arms in his patents has always kept 

 the bearings as simple and the quarterings as few as 

 possible, recognising that the ancient paternal coat can 



