Wiltshire Arms and Descents. 



223 



diminutive and disproportionate feet and legs ; exemplifying once 

 more, what I have several times called attention to, the easy gentle 

 transition from one Order and Family to another, after the manner 

 in which Nature loves to harmonize her works : so that now we 

 are prepared io pass from the Perchers to the Ground birds (Easores) 

 whose life is passed more on the ground than amongst the branches, 

 and who therefore need a very different formation of feet from those 

 we have lately been considering. 



Alfred Charles Smith. 



By Mr. Clarence Hopper. 



ROBERT DALE, the writer of the subjoined notes (which 

 J|| were compiled about the year 1693), was for many years an 

 amanuensis to Sir Richard St. George (Clarencieux) and attended 

 him in the visitations. He was the son of Mr. Thomas Dale of 

 Crossbill Hall, in the parish of Great Smeton, county York, and 

 was created Richmond Herald, May 3rd, 1721 ; but he only survived 

 the appointment about eleven months, dying on the 4th of April, 

 1722, and was buried in the church of St. Benet, Paul's Wharf. 

 Noble (vide his History of the College of Arms) supposes him to 

 have been an herald painter. 



The books from which Dale deduced the following memoranda 

 are in the Herald's College, and he has principally taken them from 

 the Visitations of 1620. His reputation as a diligent and accurate 

 collector is undeniable, and their value in a genealogical point of 

 view cannot be questioned. References such as these, enable us to 

 trace the migration of the cadet branches of old-seated families and 

 their subsequent establishment in another county away from the 

 parent stock. They must ever be hailed as a welcome addition to 

 our county history, and as tending to develope what is an essential 

 item in all such ■ information — authentic data whereon to base the 

 groundwork in constructing genealogy. 



Clarence Hopper. 



