428 
HERALDRY. 
ought never to be, ufed. See the two.laft Ihields of the 
third row of Plate I. 
ft might here be ne.ee liar y to obferve, that in coin- 
poling arms, it has always been a rule never to place 
metal upon metal, or colour upon colour; although we 
might produce very ancient coats where it has been over¬ 
looked for fome particular reafoivs, which are now un¬ 
known to us ; but' we meet fo feldom with tnofe excep¬ 
tions, that they cannot deftroy the rule. Neither; does 
this rule -apply tv, hen the ihield.is divided per pale ; per 
fefs, &c. for then theunetal or colour is not fuppofed 
to be laid on another colour or metal, but placed conti¬ 
guous to each other. Therefore it is clallical heraldry 
to blazon as follows: per pale argent and or; per fefs 
gules and azure ; quarterly azure and fable, &c. 
But ere we difmifs the fubjedt of metals and colours, 
it may be proper to mention, at lead as a matter of curi- 
ofify, if not of iuftruttion and amufement, the feveral 
other methods of blazoning arms, mentioned in almoft 
nil treatifes on heraldry. We are thoroughly aware that 
they have been laid afide, and long exploded, by men of 
real tafte and judgment; yet may we not confider them 
as the bed proof of the high cileem and veneration in 
which the fcience was held in former times t The dia¬ 
led! ufed for the gentry was borrowed from the French; 
but noblemen’s armories were blazqped by .lie corre¬ 
sponding names of precious ftones; and the heralds of 
old even called down the planets to aftift and help them 
in deferibing the refplendcnt escutcheons of princes and 
of kings. The enthuliaftic relpect for heraldry went 
dill farther ; the art was fuppofed to be coiinedted with 
the brighteft condellations of heaven,—with.-al] the me¬ 
tals concealed in the bolbm of the earth—and with the 
unlimited courfe of time; it was thought allulive to 
the caballiftic fecrets of numbers;—to man’s com¬ 
plexion, temper, and age ;—-to the principles and ele¬ 
ments of nature ; in fine, the ingenuity of the adepts 
feems to have been exhaulled in dignifying their favou¬ 
rite fcience. The following Paradigm, carefully ex¬ 
tracted from the bed authors on that fanciful fubjedt, 
will give a concife and accurate fynoplis of the whole 
fyftem. 
PARADIGM of the TINCTURES. 
— 
Stones. 
* 
kSSSu 
ri£ 
S' 
Ji'S. 
Ttmfers. 
0, 
— 
■sot. 
o 
OOid. 
Aureus. 
0 
Uo. 
July. 
Sunday 
tiB h, 
N oon 
Adolefcecce. 
Blithe. 
Fore, 
Heliotrope 
ARGENT 
w- 
Eoda. 
2> 
Silver 1 
Ar. 
caneer 
June. 
Monda, 
water. 
Infancy. 
Phlegmatic. 
Hope. 
x.Hy.. 
** 
gules. 
P.uby. 
M ar, ; 
s 
Kuse,, 
8 
A and‘ 
Oftubcr. 
Tuefday. 
Fire, 
— 
>anhood. 
Choierie. 
Charity. 
Rofe. 
10 
— 
Sapphire. 
Jupiter.' 
% 
Ti „: 
Csruleus. 
Aa_, 
T anT S 
September 
Thurfdny 
Ai, 
summer 
Childhood. 
Sanguine. 
junice. 
Blue Bell. 
4 .9 
a,,. 
Emerald. 
venu. 
9 
Copper 
Viridi, 
vn 
C ™d Di 
“y 
Trida, 
Dire. 
Spring. 
Vo,a. 
Biliou, 
Phi Field 
e.u 
Purpk 
Amethift. 
Mercur, 
$ 
qiiitk- 
Pur. 
■§£ 
November 
Th ^ Cr " 
Evenin, 
Old Age. 
serious. 
iri. 
* 
B„c, 
Diamond. 
Saturn.. 
h 
read. 
Ki B er. 
s 
AmXa. 
December 
saturda. 
Earth. 
2r 
Decrepitude. 
Prudent 
Scabiofa.- 
5.8 
Ere armorifts had ingenioufly invented the manner of 
fliowing the tindtures of the arms by dots and line's, they 
■ufed-to mark, them in their fkeiches by the initials of 
the word, in the way expre/Ied in the Paradigm ; and 
when a charge was in its native hue, they called it proper, 
as we dp dill, and marked it pp r , Thefe abbreviations 
hav'e been retained, and 'are in common ufe among he- 
ulds, painters, and engravers. 
Of FURS and VAIR. 
Born cn the fhores of the Cafpiarr Sea, on the fides of 
the Caucafus ; expofed on the cold mountains of Ar¬ 
menia, Tartary, and other northern regions of Alii; — 
the defeendants of the Scy'thae, and fome other tribes who 
oppofed the crufaders, Wore feveral kinds of furs;, among 
which,-for its w.hitenefs, and purity, the fkin ot the, ermine, 
or martin, mujiela pontica, ,mus crmincus, held the molt dif- 
tinguiflied place as facings and ornaments ; and, when 
they fell under the hands of the victorious Europeans, 
their,fpoils were borne-oh the fliields of the victors: 
hence is fuppofed by Gvvillim and others the ihtrodiidtioii 
of what is called ermine. It is always White with black 
hairy fpots, intended to reprefent the-tail of tlie animal 
which produces''! t. 'See Plate I. fourth row of fhields. 
By invei ting the coloin's of this fur, we have another 
called ermines, which is black, with white /pots ot the 
fame fliape ; and, by changing tiie metal argent into or, 
two others are produced : that is* erminois, which is 
gold with fable fpots, and plan. Which is black, powdered 
with fpots of gold. Another fur has iilfo.been ufed by 
the name of erminites, in - which cafe the two hairs, on 
each tide of the black one, are red ; but it is fo rarely 
met with in arms, that we did not think rieceffary to 
exemplify it. on our Plate. 
That which is called vair, we have purpofely feparated 
from the furs, becaufe it'has no’analogy to them. He¬ 
raldic ety mologifts have been puzzled to find-the origin 
of its name; fome derive it from varied, - becaufe of the 
variation of metal, colour, and (hape; fome imagine 
the pieces to reprefent fmall bells or tumblers. We are of 
■opinion, that, their /hape being in imitation of pieces of 
glafs in ancient windows, the denomination comes from 
the French verre, with a fmall deviation in the fpelling: . 
however, this is a mere conjecture, which we o/fer to 
the amateurs of etymology, till they meet with a better; 
-.-Si quid novifte redtius iftis, > 
Gan did iis imperii ; fi non, his'iitere mecum. Hot at. 
Vair is compofed of alternate pieces, argent and azure, 
or vice ver/a; but, in general, here, 1 as iri other cafes 
when I he field is compofed of fmall pieces, the metal 
takes the precedence of the colour. If the pieces of vair 
are of other tindkires, that mu ft be exprefted in blazo¬ 
ning; and then we fay vairy of or and gules, argent and 
fable, &c. ' '■ J ., 
We find in ancient treatifesion heraldry.VTteaiter-wafr, 
which is when the bells or cups of the fame are placed 
bafe a gain ft bafe, point againft point ; and vairy-cuppy, 
when the field is filled with a kind oi crutches, or, as the 
French called^ them in former tiines, potences, and now 
bcqit lhs. T hey are feldom to be found in old, and' never 
in modern, coats of anils, R.OUNDLETS, 
