HERALDRY. 
ROUNDELS, and GUTTES. 
The (harp point of a dart could not tranfpierce the 
fhield : the fevere droke of the fword, defcending from 
the nervous arm of a barbarian, would fcarcely divide 
the buckler; nor could the impetuous (lone, emitted 
by the balida, do more than leave a round embofi'ment 
on the other fide of the target; yet, fince the bruifes 
they had occafioned were confidered as honourable marks 
of warfare, fo they were preferved in memory of a hard- 
fought battle, by pieces contrading with the colour of 
the field ; and when a fallen chief had offered and deli¬ 
vered fums of money for his ranfom, then the national 
coin was affixed to the arms, to immortalize the glory 
of the viftor : hence the origin of the roundels, which 
are circular pieces, with a didin&ive name, in allufion 
to their refpettive tindtures, which are as follow : 
The bezant is'or; in memory of coins and medals druck 
at Condantinople or Byzantium. See thefe reprefented in 
their regular order in the above-mentioned Engraving. 
The plate is argent ; and denotes a filver piece of mo¬ 
ney. From the Spanifh, plata, filver. 
The tourteau is gules-, and originally alluded to a fpot 
of blood on the fhield. The word is borrowed from the 
French, who ufe it (fill for any thing flat and round in 
the ffiape of a cake, which they call by that name. 
The hurt is azure. It is allufive to a fruit of that name, 
of a dark-blue colour, growing wild on heaths ; and was 
perhaps adopted in memory of the place where a vidtory 
was obtained, either in war, or in tournaments. 
The pommc is vert. It is the French word for an apple ; 
and may have been introduced in coat armour for the 
teafon juft alleged. 
The golpe is purpure-, its round form reprefenting a 
kind of bolus, many have connected its name with the 
word to gulp, to j'wallow ; and, in romantic ages, it 
was fuppofed of great ufe to lay. alleep dragons and 
wiverns, the ufual guardians of enchanted cadles. 
The pellet is fable ; and may be taken for a ball of lead, 
difcharged by engines upon the befiegers ot a place. 
Some are of opinion that it is a derivation of the French 
viox&.pallet, quoit,which is generally made of iron or lead. 
It is alfo called ogrefs, a word often found in French 
works of fairies ; but the allufion we cannot perceive.. 
The orange, which is tenne, alludes to a fruit of that 
name, not uncommon in countries where heraldry re¬ 
ceived its greateft luftre. 
The guze is fanguine. The etymology of this word has 
divided molt of the heraldic writers. The iron mafs or 
lump in a date of incandejcence in founderies or forges, 
retains dill the name of gueufe in France ; and its dark- 
red line, when it begins to cool, has very likely given 
origin to this roundel. It was a red-hot ball hurled by 
engines from the battlements of a befieged town. 
The fountain is barry wavy of fix argent and azure, and 
reprefents a fpring.of water. So eagerly did the parched 
mouth of the exhauded knight, after the heat of battle, 
enjoy the cooling and reviving crydal dream in folne 
neighbouring vale, that he would have the fountain de¬ 
puted on his fhield, in grateful remembrance of the 
feafonable refrefhment he had received from it ! The 
probability of tlris fuppofition is drongly fupported by 
the following danza, the 46th of the id canto of the 
Gierufaletnme Liberata: 
.--— E fama, che quel di, che gloriofo 
Fe la rotta de’ Perfi il popol Franco, 
Poi che Tancredi al fin vittoriofo 
I fuggitivi di Seguir fit Stanco, 
Certo di refrigerio, e di ripofo 
Al arfe labra, vel travagliato fianco, 
A trade ove invitollo al rezo edivo 
Cinto di verdi feggi un fonte vivo. 
Had not the brave Tancred found in this retirement 
fomething more than refrefhment and red, he might have 
tranfmitttd to his poderity the memory of the fait by 
adopting this roundel on his fhield. 
V01..IX. No.597. 
423 
It is here to be noted, that none but Englilh heralds 
call the roundels or roundlets by thefe names ; all others 
dyletltem indifferently tourteaux, fpecifying their refpedt- 
ive colour. 
GUTTES, or DROPS. 
Here again the French language is retained to exprefs 
thefe devices in coats of arms; of wliich there are the 
fix following: 
Gutte d’or ; which is the only one that bears the name 
of a metal; in allufion to ingots or unwrought gold of¬ 
fered as a ranfom. 
Gutte d'eau ; the drop of water is argent. In the fultry 
fields of Paledine, the buckler of the warrior was often 
bedewed with drops trickling from his forehead. 
Gutte defang ; the drop of blood is gules. It appeared 
. very honourable to the viilor to enfign his armour with 
the blood he had fhed in the field of battle, or drawn 
from his competitor in combat, at the tournament. 
Gutte de larmes ; the drop or tear is azure. When « 
knight appeared with his fable armour in the taroufel 
to revenge the death of a brother in arms, or an infult 
offered to an opprefled lady, he could not exprefs the 
objedt of his refentment more appropriately, than by 
fprinkling his buckler with representations of tears. 
Gutte d'huile d’olive ; the drop of oil is vert. The beau¬ 
tiful parable of the good Samaritan, is a proof that oil 
was, with wine, an ancient and common remedy for frelh 
wounds. The benefit received from it by warriors, in 
a country where olive-trees grow fpontaneoufly and plen¬ 
tifully, may have given birth to this bearing. It is, how¬ 
ever, Seldom met with. 
Gutte de poix ; the drop of pitch is fable. Previous to 
the invention of gunpowder, the befieged ufed to pour 
front the walls and towers of their citadels, melted pitch,^ 
and other combuftibles, on the aflailants. And this gutte 
was very likely preferved on the (field as a monument 
of bravery, and to intimate that the knight had been 
adtive in fealing or conquering a fortrefs. 
Several foreign as well as Englilh heralds have tor¬ 
tured their imaginations to explain the origin and etymon 
of thefe, and many other bearings, which it would be 
endlefs for us to follow : it is the object; of our plan to 
be clear and rational, and never to fubditute conjeBures 
in lieu of fails, but where credibility comes forward to ■ 
fill up the chafm. 
POINTS and DIVISIONS of the SHIELD. 
In the enthufiaftic ages of chivalry, every object which 
related to the profeflion of arms was exalted and digni¬ 
fied. The armour was fo clofely united with the body, 
that itfeemed to make a part of it; and an infult offered^ 
to it would have been refented with as much warmth of 
revenge, as if the warrior himfelf had been treacheroufly 
wounded. Hence it arofe that the (field was confidered 
as the man himfelf; and its parts were denominated ac¬ 
cordingly. The fummit of the buckler was called the 
chief, or the head ; the point immediately under, took 
the name of honour-point, alluding to the bread ; and the 
lowed but one is called the nombrilfoint. In confirma¬ 
tion of this, we read that the (hield of Audria, being 
gules afefs argent, intends to reprefent the whole of the 
(ilvery coat of duke Leopold, wliich, alter the battle, 
was fo encrimfoned with blood, that it appeared all over 
red, except the part which was covered by the fcarf; 
and alfo, that when an honourable wound was given, or 
received, a memorial of it was preferved on the fliield, 
by placing a roundlet or a gutte on the part correlpond- 
ing with tl\e body of the bearer. Nine letters of the 
alphabet are introduced to diflinguifh the nine different 
points; as delineated in the centre (hield in the fixtli 
line of Plate I. 
A The dexter chief. 
B The middle chief. 
C The (inilier chief. 
1 D The honour point. 
E The fefs point. 
i R 
F The nombril point. 
G The dexter bafe. 
H The middle bafe. 
I The finider bafe. 
