HERALDRY. 
caufe none of the children of our king bear arms, until 
it be his majefty’s pleafure to command that'fuch be 
granted them ; which is done in the following manner : 
His majefty, by his royal warrant, and figo manual, di- 
redts Garter principal king at arms, to grant and confirm 
fuch diftindtion as is expreffed in the faid warrant, 
which, together with the grant, is recorded in the re- 
gifters of the Collette of Arms; and thole have been 
lately fettled, as delineated in our Heraldry Plate VIII. 
It has happened that tliefe maiks of cadency by lapfe 
of time, and the careleffnefs or miftakes of painters, have 
crept into the general blazon of many coats of arms, 
and irrevocably affixed themfelves N to the Ihields; but 
this is an abufe which ought to be carefully fuppreffied. 
Some authors are of opinion, and we readily fublcribe 
to it, that the greater part of common charges were ori¬ 
ginally nothing but marks of cadenCy, or brizures, as 
well as the pale, the fefs, &c. as demonftrated in our 
explanation of the ordimtries. The advantage of the 
new method over the ancient is, that it is confolidated 
into a clear and invariable fyftem ; whereas the ancient 
pradtice was arbitrary and delufive. Thefe differences 
may be of all tindtures, as they ought to be made as 
diftindt and confpicuous as poffible. 
EXTERNAL ORNAMENTS of the SHIELD. 
All that has been hitherto the fubjedt of our invefti- 
gation, is contained within the convpals of the ffiield or 
efcutcheon ; the next talk incumbent upon us is, to de- 
fcribe and explain what are termed the external orna¬ 
ments of the ffiield, fuch as the helmet, the mantling, 
the wreath, the fupporters, &c. Thefe will therefore 
be themext objedts of our attention. 
Of the HELMET. 
We have remarked above, that the ffiield was often 
perfonified as reprefenting the warrior; and we fee in 
the famous trophies of Marius, and in other ancient 
pieces of fculpture, that the helmet was generally 
placed over the buckler of the deceafed hero, whenever 
a monument was eredled to his memory. This method 
has been followed quite to our own times* and will pro¬ 
bably pafs unvaried to pofterity. 
The name of the helmet in the Greek language, is 
xegvi; j in Latin, galea , cajjis, cajjida ; in German, helm ; in 
Italian, elmo ; in French, haulme , haume. , and cafque \ and 
in Englilh, helm, helmet,[afinet, morion, and fallad, orJ'alade, 
and fometimes cajk. From the Greek the crefted lark 
has received her denomination of y.ogvra., coryta ; from 
the German helm, the Italian, Engliffi, and French, have 
borrowed their analogous words for that covering of 
the head of a warrior ; and we perceive in the Latin ex. 
preffions the nature of two forts of helmets; for galea 
which is a derivation of yaks«, a cat, mdansa helmet 
made of cat’s-fkin; and cajjis, one compofed of plates of 
iron, Heel, or copper, covering each other in an im¬ 
bricated form, like the feales of fiffi. The Engliffi word 
falad, anciently ufed for a helmet, is derived from fally ; 
becaufe the belieged, when they /allied forth, ruffiing out 
head foremoft, and bent upon their heavy fpears, in or¬ 
der to make a fudden charge on the advanced troops of 
the affailants, had need of fuch a ftrong covering for 
their heads, which, in this attitude, were expofed to 
the firft brunt of the befieging enemy. 
Defcriptions of ancient poets, antique monuments of 
Greek and Latin fculpture, medals, and intaglios, re¬ 
mains of Gothic carvings, and old enluminures, prefent 
fuch a variety of helmets, that it would exceed the li¬ 
mits of our plan to attempt a defeription of them all. 
We ffiall therefore only delineate in our correfpondent 
Engraving thofe that are Hill in ufe among heralds, or 
that throw fome new light on the fubjedt:. 
The full-faced helmet of fix bars, all of gold, and da- 
malked. This is exclufively affigned to the fovereign, 
and all the princes of the blood. See Plate VIII. fig. i. 
A profile or fide view of a helmet of fieel damalked 
443 
with five bars ; the bars, bails, and orgrills, of gold. 
This is placed over the arms of dukes, marquifes, eapls, 
vifeounts, and barons; without any particular difference. 
Tiie word orgrill, tiled by ancient armorilis in this cafe, 
is derived from the French grille d'or, a golden grate, 
and means the fame as bars of gold interfering each 
other ; this we often meet with in ancient paintings of 
helmets, and is a particular kind oft nfor, through which 
the armed knight was able to lee the motions of his ad- 
verfary, without fearing the thrufis of the (pear in his 
face, Het'e Edmondfon and others have committed an 
egregious error, in afiigning a helmet to dukes and mar- 
quiles differing from the one they give to earls, vifeounts, 
and barons. This •damalked helmet, with five golden 
bars, belongs equally and indiferiminately to all the no¬ 
bility; for they are pares. See Piate VIII. fig. 2. 
A full-faced helmet of ffeel, its vifor or- beaver up, or 
open, and without bars. This is proper to the baronet 
and knight. See Piate VIII. fig. 3. Some ingenious ad¬ 
mirers of heraldry have wiflied that the-inlide of this 
helmet lliould be of a colour analogous to that of the 
field; but there is no particular injunction to this pur- 
pofe. 
A profile of a helmet of fieel, with the vifor down. 
This is the proper bearing of an efquire; and by 
courtely, of. all thofe who may be fly led gentlemen. 
See Plate VIII. fig. 4. This divifion of the helmets is 
fimple, clear, and rational : the helmet of gold full-faced, 
with bars, for the king and princes; the fame ftdeways, 
but of fieel or filver, for the nobility. The helmet of 
fieel full-faced and open without bars, for baronets and 
knights ; the fame fdeways, and [hut, for the gentry. 
Some writers are of opinion, that three principal and 
different metals, fliould be made a characteri(lie diftinc- 
tion for the three branches of the Britiffi Conftitution, 
or three integrant parts of the nation. Gold for the 
king and princes, fiver for the peers of the realm, and 
fed lor the commoners ; but painters have feldom at¬ 
tended to this, there being no particular rules laid down 
for it. 
It two helmets are placed on one ffiield to fupport 
two different crefts, they are ufually fet face to face, in 
imitation of the Germans ; who fometimes, according 
to the number of crefts a man is entitled to, place ten 
or more helmets, on the fame ffiield. In that cafe, if 
the number be uneven, the centre helmet is depidted 
full-faced, and called affronte ; and thofe on each fide 
looking refpedtively towards the centre. 
Among the Greeks and Romans, and alfo among our 
anceftors, the fabrication of the iliield, and of its orna¬ 
ments, employed the ingenuity of the belt artifts. The 
gold, filver, or fieel, of which it was generally compofed, 
was engraven, and poliflied fo bright, that lightning 
was faid to flafli from it. In the beautiful epifode of 
the Adieus of Hedtor to Andromache, in book vi. of 
the Iliad, Homer gives to the helmet of that hero the 
epithet tra.[x<pav(iucrcty, “fparkling all around with daz¬ 
zling ray^s of light;” and Virgil, fpeaking of the helm 
of -dEneal; produced by the fkilful hand of Vulcan, ufes 
the following bold expreffion: Terribilm cri/lis galcam 
flammafque vomentem. Lib. viii. 620. 
The crefted helm that vomits radiant fire. Dryden . 
And book ix. 457 : 
-Galeamque nitentem 
Meffapi. 
It was through the high poliffi of his head-piece, that 
Euryalus loft his life ; for had it not been for the emif- 
fions of light it gave in the darknefs of the grove, by 
refledbing the doubtful beams of the moon, the enemy 
would never have difeovered him : 
Galea Euryalum fublufri no&is in umbra 
Prodidit immemorem , radiifque adver/a refulft, 
——Through the doubtful ffiade, 
His ffiining helm Euryalus betray’d. 
Dryden . 
The 
