426 , HERA 
Esso'uir, an orle or treffure, 
_Garc°ui ll'e, a fnake ; tlie water-fpouts at the top 
■ , mo 1 Inc buildings have,retajnedi this name in.France 
to tins moment, being generally conformed to the like-' 
nefs of a ferpent or dragon. 
Guivre, Givre, V.uivre,Vivre, Cisse, a feiv 
pent or fnake. , 
Hraume, helmet. 
IIerse, portcullis. 
Jube, the mane of a horfe. 
.Lampasse', langued. 
Levrier, greyhound. 
. Massacre, a flag’s head attired., 
Mer.lette, martlet. 
Meub LE, charge, bearing. 
, Morne', is fit id of a lion difarmed, 
Otellh, fp ear's head. 
Pelican avec sa piete', a pelican vulning herfelf. 
Platte, plate-. - 
Senestre, finifter.' 
Trade, the flock of an anchor, 
fi ? 1 | REN ?^ E,> P art y P er bend. Taili.e',. party per bend 
Vannet, efcalop-fhell. 
Or the SHIELD. 
The formation of the fhield tnuft have been nearly 
coeval with the invention of the firft iniflile weapons of 
man ; and its obvious utility in covering and protecting 
the body, rendered it of the higheft eftlmation among!! 
all the natiohs of antiquity. As by the rigour of war- 
fare the foldier incurred death who tamely furrendered 
his fhield ; fo the capture of it was, on the other hand, 
an acquifition -of the higheft glory. To furrender the 
fword or javelin was but a fecondary degradation ; and 
ferved to imprefs the mind of the warrior with the di¬ 
vine maxim, that man, deftined by Providence to enjoy 
a life of harmony and repofe, may of necefTity defend 
himfelf againft injuftice and violence, but ought never 
to raife his arm againft his unoffending fellow-creature. 
Hence the high refpeCt paid to Jliicldsin former times: they 
v/ere enfi'gned with the reprefentation of themoft brilliant 
achievements ot the heroes who bore them ;—they were 
offered as a reward to valour and virtue ;•—confecrated 
to the memory of emperors and kings, and hung, in elo¬ 
quent filence, over the tombs of departed warriors. Me¬ 
taphorically, they imprefs us with juft ideas of the 
beautiful and fublime in various parts of holy writ, 
—as well as in the moft celebrated of the claflic hifto- 
rians and poets. In Genefis it is written, for incite¬ 
ment to magnanimous and virtuo-us deeds, “Fear not 
*—I am thy fhield, and exceeding great reward :” Gen. 
xv. i. And in Pfalnpxxxiii. “ To deliver from death, 
and keep alive in-famine. Pie is our help and our fhield. 
v. 19, 20.—As a trophy, ^Eneas fufpended to the gates 
of the temple of Apollo the buckler of Abas. Pliny 
f a y s > 35- 3• That the ihields ttfed at the fiege of Troy 
were adorned with imagery ; “ Soutis, quibuTad Tro- 
jam pugnatum eft, continebanttir imagines.”—We find 
in Plautus, Mil..1. r. 1. “ Clypei fplendor clarior quam 
radii folis,” The refulgence of the fhield is brighter than 
the rays of the fun. The continence of Seipio was en¬ 
graven on a filver buckler, prefented to him by the ad¬ 
miring Spaniards ; and the venerable cuflom of adorning 
the manftons of the dead with appropriate fhields and 
banners has reached our own times, from the remote ages 
ot antiquity. Amo.ng the Goths, and other northern 
tribes, their kings and chiefs were railed to dignity and 
the hup re me command, by being elevated, in the mid ft 
of the people,, upon the fhield; for which ceremony fee 
the engraving under the portrait Qf Alaric, vol. viii. 
p. 720. And whilft the fhield was made an emblem of 
independence to the free, the lofs of it became a mark 
of degradation, to the flave. Hence, in our foreft-laws, 
the killing of a royal flag incurred the lofs of the-fhield. 
L D R Y. 
which, in. the reign of Caftute, reduced a freeman to ir¬ 
retrievable bondage. 
Among the Greeks and Romans the name of the fhield 
was: as various as its fhape. The Latin word fcutvm y 
from which the Italian fcudo, the French era or e/ra as 
formerly fpelt, and efcujon, the Englifh e/cutcheon, efco- 
chton, or jzutcheon , are derived, is applied by Livy to 
the gold and filver bucklers of the oftentatious Sam- 
mtes ; and he gives us, book ix. c. 46, a minute defend, 
tion ot their form : “This was the fhape of the fhield •• 
the fumrnit, by which the breafl and [boulders are pro¬ 
tected, was large and even; the bottom was wedge-" 
fhaped, to render its motion moreeafy;” Forma erat 
icuti : fuinmum lathis qua peCtus atque humeri tegiin- 
tur, tafligioque ad imuni cuneatior, mobilitatis caiifa ’> 
See rhe fhield enfi^ned “Or - ’ at the top of our Heraldry 
P'ace I. It is fometimes'culled the Norman fhield ; but 
t° know whether the Roriians borrowed this fhape from 
Or conveyed it .to, the. Celtic Gauls, is a queftion as 
doubtful as it is unimportant. Tile next, marked “Ar¬ 
gent,” undergoes a final! variation at the upper part • 
and thefe are placed firft, becaufe they were moft coml 
rnonly ufed in ancient times. 
The fhapes marked “ Azure,” and “Vert,” offer but 
little difference, and nearly reprefent the Roman parma, 
whole fquare form was be.tter adapted to the target- 
fence fometimes ufed by befiegers: 
Crudse-tardarunt tegmina parmae.— Sil Ital. 5. 526. 
The half-moon buckler tinctured “Gules,” in the 
fame.Engraving,, is like the Amazonian pelta or target, 
mentioned by thekarned Bryant, as well as in the AEneid, 
b. 1. v. 494. 
Ducit Amazonidum lunatis agmina peltis. 
Its lunar-fhape was intended to give a freer and more 
extenfive adion to the right hand,- and its name, as well 
as the word balteus, a belt, feems to be derived from pel- 
/is, or the Teutonic pelz , the hide_of beads, with which 
it was generally covered. Livy informs us alfo that it 
differed but vcr y immaterially from the cetra ; “ Cetrae 
pelta hand abfimilis,” which was a target ufed by the Spa¬ 
niards, and generally made of buffaloes’ and ounces’ lea¬ 
ther ; a circumftance which is common to them as well 
as to the fcutum : this word being derived from the 
Greek o-kvtoi;, leather, fkin, hides. 
The clypeus appears to have undergone a great variety 
of fhapes among the Romans, its name is not allufive 
to its form, but to the cuflom of raifing. figures upon it, 
from the verb yXvQsw, fculpere, to carve or chafe. It 
was particularly worn by the infantry; its length and 
w eight being confidered as too cumberfome for cavalry ; 
and, if we infpeCt attentively ancient baffo-relievos,.ca¬ 
meos, and medals, we ftiall find that the fhields which 
are often reprefented upon them incline generally to 
the oval or round form, and were of a confiderable di- 
menfion. See the fhield in the portrait of Hannibal the 
Carthaginian general, vol. iii. p. 844, with the bear¬ 
ing of the/white horfe, fimilar to that of Hanover in the 
royal arms of England.. This is from a very antique 
gem, in the collection of Mr. Taffie, Leicefter-fquare, 
London, the authenticity of which is unimpeachable. 
The word umbo, means rather a part of the fhield than 
a particular fpecies. It expreffes the convexity of the 
buckler, or more particularly the centre, which was 
fometimes armed or adorned witli a knob, or fharp point. 
This convex form was adopted in order to give a glan¬ 
cing direction to the darts, and to ftrengthen the whole 
againft the repeated hackings of the l word. Such was, 
according .to Virgil, the form of the fhield worn by Pyr¬ 
rhus at the fack of Troy, when the venerable Priam 
threw, with unavailing lt.re.ngth, a heavy fpear againft 
him : 
Et fummo clypei necquicquam umbone pependit. 
.i£rc..b. a. v. 54 6 . 
■ The 
