4S4 
HERALDRY. 
In fig. 63, .of tlie fame plate, is reprefented an brie of 
martlets; and the arms are blazoned thus: argent, an in- 
efcuickeon within an orlefif martlets fable ; which is.the fame 
as fable a bordure argent, charged with eight martlets cf the 
frjl, fuppofing that the bordure has been fpread beyond 
its ufiial breadth_tb give room for the charges.. 
Another offspring of the bordure is the treffure, a fub- 
ordinary of.great dignity and antiquity ; fince it has been 
faid that it was granted by Charlemagne to the Scotch 
kings, on the occafion of his entering into a league with 
Achaius, the then fovereigh of that country. 
The treffure is commonly fuppofed to be the half of 
the breadth of an orle, and is generally termed Jlory 
and counter-jlory, that. is, having the flowers-de-lis al-' 
ternately inverted ; it may be double, and even treble. 
Its name originates from the French trejfer, to weave, 
t&ift, or plait. It was a light and fimple ornament, of fil- 
ver or golden twift, elegantlyWrought around the princi¬ 
pal bearing of a coat, as in the royal arms, of Stuart, viz. 
or, a fefs cheque argent S 3 azure within a double treffure gules* 
This ordinary, according to Nifioet, was anciently given 
tq none but fuch as had intermarried with, or defend¬ 
ed from, fome of the branches of the royal family. 
The INESCUTCHEON. 
This fubordinate ordinary confifls of a little, efeut- 
cheon, borne within the fhield, in the fefs point, accord¬ 
ing to fome heralds; as in fig. 63, Plate III. But 
others give the name to all kinds of fmaller fhields borne 
as charges; as in the family arms of Hay, viz. argent, 
three inefcutcheons gules. 
The PILE. 
It is not an eafy talk to give a fatisfaflory etymology 
of the word pile, as a fub-ordinary in armories. Some 
authors plainly lee in it a faithful reprefentation of the 
piles on which bridges are founded and Hand. Others de¬ 
rive the word from the French pile, a heap, a pile of wood ; 
a funeral pile; but then this charge fhould be called pile 
inverted ; as in general the balis of this triangular figure 
adheres, not to the bafe, as nature would have it, but 
to the fummit of the fhield. Thofe who are fond of an¬ 
tiquarian dilquifitions, feek for the.-name among the 
amuiements of the Geeks and Romans, who uled to 
play the game pila trigonalis, the three-corner ball ; fo 
denominated, not from the form of the pila, which of 
courle was fpheric, but from the polition of the players, 
who were three in number, and formed an angle, as in 
the pile; the man who throws the ball Handing at the 
point, and the bafe being occupied by the two others, 
who repel or catch it. 
However, the pile is anifofceles acute triangle, point¬ 
ing from the top, from which it ilfues, to the bale of the 
fhield in a perpendicular direction, asat fig. 6 4, Plate III. 
argent, a pile fable. As to the tindhire, it follows the ge¬ 
neral rule ot opposition, and may bear ally charges, as 
in the noble bearing of Seymour, where a pile gules is 
charged with three lions of England. 
Fig. 65, Plate III. ermine, two piles ijfuingfrom the dexter 
and/infer fides and meeting in bafe azure. Fig. 66, argent, 
three piles meeting in bafe gules. Fig. 67 ,or, a pile between two 
, others rever Jed, Jable. Fig. 68, ermine, a pile wavy bendway s, 
vert. Fig. 69, fable,three piles in bend, each joint snjigned with 
afleur de lis argent. 
The CANTON. 
The word canton, in French, means any given part of 
a whole fpaoe, as a province or county may be di¬ 
vided into ieveral cantons. Here it means a fquare part 
of tiie efcutcheon, of no determined proportion, but 
fomewhat lefs titan a quarter, and generally at the dex¬ 
ter corner of the fhield. When it is placed on the other 
fide, it is denominated canton fnifler ; but this feldom 
happens in Englifn heraldry. 
Armorifts have fuppofed that it was intended to repre'- 
fent the banner given to the ancient knight banneret. That 
may perhaps have been the cafe ; but, properly fpeakirig 
it has been and is (fill frequently ufedas an honourable ad¬ 
dition in a coat of arms, or a neceflary diftinfilion to point 
opt a difference between the feyeral branches of a family. 
See fig. 70, ermine, a canton pur pure. A fhield ermine, is the 
well-known and ancient bearing of Britanny in France, 
and the canton is added to point out a difference between 
the ramifications of the families entitled to bear it. See 
in the fame engraving fig. 71, argent a canton and a fefs 
conjoined gules. In fome cafes the-canton, alfo of the fame 
tincture with the fefs, is feparated from it by a fhaded 
line, as in the coat of Widvile earl Rivers, See. 
The quarterly franc quartier, is a French bearing, feldom 
or never to be met with in Englifh armories. It mu ft here 
■ be obferved, that when a canton is added to a coat that 
had originally a bordure, it ought t-o be placed upon it j 
but, if the original coat pofTelfes a canton, then the bor- 
dure nmft go round. 
FLANCHES, FLASQUES, and VOIDERS.. 
Flatichcs is a plural derived from the French fane, 
which fignifies the fide of any thing, but chiefly of the 
human body. They are formed by two curved lines or 
femicircles, and are never bo_rne Angle. See fig. 72, 
Plate III. azure two fanches or-, and at fig. 73, gules two 
fanches argent per chevron counterchanged. When the curved 
lines, becoming more elliptic, do not recede fo far from 
the flanks of the efcutcheon, fome heralds call them 
fafques, becaufe they refemble in fliape the bellied half 
of a flafk or flagon ; but modern heralds do not take no. 
tice of this diftinfition. The voiders, Hill narrower than 
the flafques, are all'o obfolete ; and it is merely out of 
acknowledgment and refpebl for thofe ingenious authors 
who have treated of the lcience before us, and to whole 
indefatigable exertions we owe the entire removal of 
the veil of darknefs that fo long obfeured the monu¬ 
ments of antiquity, that We mention fe.veral. objects 
which might otherwife remain for ever buried in obli¬ 
vion. We therefore did not think it'necefiary to intro¬ 
duce-figures of them in our plate. 
The GYRON. 
The word gyron does not come, as Gwillim and many 
other armorifts pretend, from the Latin gremium, which 
in French fignifies giron, bofom ; nor from the fhape of 
a lady’s ftomacher, as others have gallantly dreamt; but 
from gyrus, a circuit or circle ; this charge being a piece 
of the fhield divided quarterly and per faltire, which 
then takes the appearance of a wheel, whofe feveral al¬ 
ternate pieces feem to turn (gyrare) round-within the 
efcutcheon. See Heraldry Plate I. It is, in heraldry, 
a triangular figure formed by two lines, one drawn di¬ 
agonally from one of the four angles to the centre of the 
fhield, and the other either horizontal, or perpendicu¬ 
lar, from one of the fides of the efcutcheon, meeting, 
the other line in tfie centre of the field. See Plate 111. 
fig. 74, argent, a gyron fable. 
If th tgyron proceeds from the dexter fide of the fhield, 
it is blazoned a gyron; but, if from the oppofite fide, 
we are to add the word fnifer, as we do to the bend, can - 
ton, &c. This bearing is feldom ufed in modern arms. 
The FRET. 
This figure refembles two little flicks or pieces lying 
faltire-ways, and interlaced within a mafcle. See Plate 
III. fig. 7 fable, a fret argent. Its name originates from 
the contra-pofition of the (ticks fiipporting each other, as 
the ,L at in adjeftive fretus, a, um, fignifies, relying upon, 
fupported by Gibbon calls it, heraldorum nodus amatorius, 
the herald’s true lover’s knot ; but for what reafon, it 
is not eafy to gitefs. 
The fret is fometimes couped at the four angles, and 
becomes an ifolated common charge in the field, and 
may be .placed in any point. See Plate III. fig. 7 6, or, 
a fret couped, fable. 
When the field is partly covered by fmall bendlets or 
lticks, 
