"After these preparations, the constable caused his clerk made them privy thereunto, desiring their favours that the to bring forth the book, whereupon the combatants were combatants might eat, drink, or ease their bodies, if need solemnly sworn. "The first Outh. "The constable, having caused his clerk to read the challenger's bill, and calling him by his name, said, 'Dost thou conceive the effect of this bill? Here is, also, thine own gauntlet of defiance. Thou shalt swear by the holy Evangelists, that all things contained therein be true, and that thou maintain it so to be upon the person of thy adversary, as God shall help thee, and the holy Evangelists!' "The oath thus taken, he was led back unto his former place, and the constable did cause the marshal to produce the defender, who took the like oath. This oath was ever taken the parties kneeling, unless it pleased the constable and marshal to pardon that duty. "The second Oath. "The second oath, was also indifferently propounded to either of them, viz. That they had not brought into the lists other armour or weapon than was allowed; neither any engine, instrument, herb, charm, or enchantment; and that neither of them should put affiance or trust in any other thing than God and their own valours, as God and the holy Evangelists should help them!' That done, they were both sent to their places of entry. "The third Oath was thus. "The combatants, being again called, were commanded by the constable to take one the other by the hand, and lay their left hands upon the book: which done, the constable said, 'I charge thee, A. B. challenger, upon thy faith, that thou do thine uttermost endeavour and force to prove thine affirmation, either by death, or denial of thine adversary before he departeth these lists, and before the sun goeth down this day, as God and the holy Evangelists shall help thee! "The very same oath, in like manner used, was offered unto the defender; and, that done, the combatants returned unto their places, their friends, and counsellors. "These ceremonies ended, the herald, by commandment of the constable and marshal, did make proclamation, at four corners of the lists, thus:-'O yes! O yes! We charge and command, in the name of the king, the constable, and marshal, that no man, of what estate, title, or degree soever, shall approach the lists nearer than four feet in distance, nor shall utter any speech, word, voice, or countenance, whereby either the challenger or defender may take advantage, upon pain of loss of life, living, and goods, to be taken at the king's good pleasure. "Then the constable and marshal assigned a place couvenient, within the lists, where the kings of arms, heralds, and other officers should stand and be ready, if they were called; for, afterwards, all things were committed unto their charge, as well on the behalf of the defender as the challenger; as, if any thing were forgotten in their confessions, either touching their lands or consciences, or that any of them desired to eat or drink; all these wants were supplied by the heralds, and none other. "But here is to be noted, that no meat or drink might be given to the challenger without leave first asked of the defender, who commonly did not deny the request; and, after, the herald went unto the constable and marshal, and were. "After these orders taken, the constable and marshal did avoid the lists of all persons, save only one knight and two esquires, armed, to attend the constable, and the like number to await on the marshal, either of them having in his hand a lance, without head, ready to depart the combatants, if the king did command. "Of more ancient time, the constable and marshal used to have certain lieutenants and servants within the lists, also, the one part to keep order on one side, and the others to look unto the other side; and, if the queen happened to behold the combat, then the constable and marshal awaited on the king's side, and their lieutenants attended on the queen. "Then did the constable alone, sitting down before the king, send his lieutenant to the challenger to come unto him; and the marshal, with his lieutenant, did accompany the defender. "The constable, thus set, did pronounce his speech, with a loud voice: 'Let them go-Let them go-Let them go, and do their best. ' "Upon which words pronounced, in the king's presence, the challenger did march towards the defender, to assail him furiously; and the other prepared himself for defence, as best he might. "In the mean time, the coustable and marshal, with their lieutenants, stood circumspectly to hear and see if any word, sign, or voice of yielding, were uttered by either of the fighters; and also to be ready, if the king should command the lances to be let fall, to depart the fight. "The constable and marshal did also take regard, that the challenger and defender should appear at the day and hour appointed, whether they had about them any engine, or other unlawful things, as charms or enchantments; yet was it lawful, both for the challenger and defender, to be as well and surely armed as they could. And, if any of them would have his sword cut shorter than the standard, yet was not the other bound to have his cut to that measure, if he required that favour of the court. But if either the one or the other's sword passed the standard, then was that inequality to be reformed; or; if they were both over long, both were to be reformed. "It had been, also, in more ancient time, used, that the constable and marshal should foresee that, if the king's pleasure was to depart the fight, and suffer the combatants to rest before the combat ended, that they should be parted in due time, when no advantage were. Likewise, that they should take heed that none of them should privately speak unto the other of yielding, or otherwise; for unto the constable and marshal appertained the witnessing and record of all things. "And, in case the combat were for question of treason, he that was vanquished should be forthwith disarmed within the lists, by commandment of the constable and marshal. Also, the armour and weapons of the vanquished were, in one end of the lists, defaced, to his disgrace; and after the same drawn out, together with his horse. From thence, also, the man vanquished was drawn unto the place of execution, to be there beheaded or hanged, according to the custom of the country. "The performance of all which punishment appertained only to the marshal, who ought to see all things done in his own presence. And, in case the challenger did not vanquish | honourable custom, to deliver up the person of him thus the enemy, then ought he to suffer the same pains that convicted, unto the prince of the place, or to some other, are due to the defender, if he were vanquished: but if the whom the vanquisher served and loved; but this was done quarrel were upon a crime of less importance, the party on account of custom, not of duty. The whole panoply of vanquished should not be drawn unto the place of execution, the conquered belonged to his more fortunate adversary, but only led thither, to receive death or other punishment, according to the quality of the crime. "If the combat were only for trial of virtue and honour, he that was vanquished therein should be disarmed, and put out of the lists, without further punishment. "If it happened, that the king would take the quarrel into his hand, and make peace between the parties, without longer fight, then did the constable lead the one, and the marshal the other, out of the lists, at several gates, armed and mounted as they were, having special regard that neither of them should go the one before the other; for the quarrel, resting in the king's hand, might not be renewed, or any violence be offered, without prejudice unto the king's honour. And because it is a point very special in matters of arms, that he who leaveth the lists first, incurreth a note of dishonour; therefore, to depart the lists in due time, was ever precisely observed, were the combat for treason or other cause whatsoever. "It is also to be remembered, that, without the principal lists, were ever certain counterlists, betwixt which two, the servants of the constable and marshal did stand: there stood, also, the king's sergeants at arms, to see and consider if any default or offence were committed contrary to the proclamation of the court, against the king's royal majesty, or the law of arms. Those men were ever armed at all pieces. "The servants of the constable and marshal had charge of the place, and good order thereof. The king's sergeants took care to keep the gates of the lists, and be there ready to make arrest of any person, when they should be commanded by the constable or marshal. The fees of the marshal were all horses, pieces of armour, or other furniture, that fell to the ground, after the combatants did enter the lists, as well from the challenger as the defender; but all the rest appertained to the party victorious, whether he were challenger or defender. The bars, posts, rails, and every other part of the lists, were also the fees of the marshal. From the foregoing, it will be seen, that no process of law could be more summary or decisive, or more fitting the times; immediate death awaited the attainted, who was considered guilty, if vanquished. If the challenger did not vanquish the defender before sunset on the day of fight, then was he himself adjudged vanquished; and could not after challenge any one: this victory and privilege belonged to the defender, all other favours being common to both combatants. The victory was always allowed him, whose adversary yielded himself, confessed himself unequal to the combat, or uttered any other speech tending to submission; who allowed, and implored pardon for his crime or misdemeanor, or otherwise repented; who ran away, and abandoned the lists or field, which was considered as the basest and most dishonourable action. He that was slain within the lists, was also considered without the victory; yet this sort of vanquishment was least dishonourable; though, by ancient custom, no man slain in public combats, could be buried in consecrated ground. In cases which were not attended with, or judged worthy of, deprivation of life, the vanquished individual became the prisoner of the victor. It was also an ancient and who could also compel him to pay all charges attending the combat. He, the prisoner, might not be liberated, until either the payment of a stipulated ransom, or after five years service to the victor. But during such servitude, it was not lawful to employ the thrall in any base action or inglorious service, which left him the privilege of escaping, without subjecting himself to further penalties or inflictions. Among the instances which are on record of this sort of trial, and the parties to whom the king granted the combat, we shall now detail a few of the most memorable. Edmund, of the race of West Saxons, fought in combat with Canutus, king of Denmark, for the possession of the crown of England; in which fight, both the princes being wearied, they, by mutual consent, divided the lands between them, A. D. 1016. Robert Mountfort accused Henry, of Essex, of treason; and the matter being tried by battle, the said Henry was vanquished, A. D. 1163. Several combats were granted by Richard II. during his reign; amongst these was one, performed, A. D. 1344, between an esquire, born in Navarre, and an Englishman, whom the former accused of treason ; but he of Navarre being vanquished, confessed that he was instigated by malice: the sentence of the king was, that he should be drawn and hanged. A combat was allowed, by Henry VI. to be performed between Sir Richard Woodville and a Spanish knight; but after the third blow given, the king stayed the fight. Among those combats, on account of the assumption of armorial bearings, we note the following, as most remarkable: those between two knights, Harding and St. Loe, in 1312; between Warburton and Gorges, in 1321; between Sitsilt and Fakenham, in 1333: and between Scrope and Grosvenour, in 1389. The decline of judicial combat may be traced from the reign of Lewis the Pious, who, in 1260, issued an edict through France, to prevent such an impious appeal to divine vengeance; and his example was followed by most of the states in Christendom. Its discontinuance was recommended to Henry II. by Glanville, who introduced the grand assize into our statute law. In subsequent reigns, its frequent occurrence was diminished; till at length public combats were altogether laid aside; yet some obsolete laws to enforce appeal to arms, were not expunged from our statute books till lately. An advantage was taken of this, in the case of Abraham Thornton, who was tried at Warwick, in 1817, for the ferocious violation and murder of Mary Ashford; and although acquitted by the jury, such was the dissatisfaction of the public at large, and more particularly of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood where the murder was committed, that a subscription was entered into, to defray the expense of a new prosecution. On an investigation of the circumstances, the secretary of state granted his warrant to the sheriff of Warwick, to take Thornton into custody, on an appeal of murder, to be prosecuted by William Ashford, the brother and heir at law of the deceased. He was accordingly lodged in Warwick gaol, until removed to London by habeas corpus, the proceedings on the writ of appeal being held in the Court of King's Bench, in Westminster Hall; where, on the 17th day of November, the prisoner, availing himself of this barbarous privilege, extended to him by the antiquated and absurd law under which he stood appealed, demanded trial by wager of battle. As a badge of honour and distinction, every individual The folly of thus admitting that 'right should follow might' engaged in those wars, had the form of the cross sewed or was particularly obvious in this case, for whilst the appellee embroidered on the right shoulder of his surcoat; hence was an athletic man of great muscular power, the appellant the expeditions received the appellation of Crusades. The was of a delicate frame, and quite unequal to a personal cross was also varied in colour and form, in order that the combat with such an antagonist. The revival of this obsolete law gave rise to repeated arguments of counsel on both sides, which were adjourned from time to time, till the 16th April, 1818, when the judges delivered their opinions seriatim; the substance of which was, that, sitting there to administer the law, not as they wished it to be, but as they found it, they considered the defendant entitled to claim trial by wager of battle: and the decision of the court was, "That there be trial by battle, unless the appellant show reason why the defendant should not depart without day." On the 20th, time having been asked by the appellant's counsel, the matter was finally disposed of, the judgment of the court being, "That the defendant be discharged from this appeal, and that he be allowed to go forth without bail." In consequence of this circumstance, an act was passed by parliament, in the 59th year of George III. to repeal the right of trial by battle. We shall now return to the earlier history of heraldry, and, having set forth the reciprocal value which acted between armories and those splendid pageants, that so oft recurred, especially in France, during the reign of Hugh Capet, will pass on to that interesting era, when the chivalrous and valiant of Europe united in one common cause, which had the honour and protection of the Christian religion for its foundation; and although the ardour and enthusiasm evinced in its prosecution, were infuscated by superstition, and attended with cruelty, yet many benefits accrued from the association and union of so many different nations. Amongst the inventions and alterations which the necessities of the times produced, luminous additions were made to personal armorial ensigns, the principal of which we shall notice. The Turks, having got possession of Judea, demanded exorbitant tribute of the Christians, who, from religious motives, visited the Holy Land; and the pilgrims who possessed not the means of payment, were oft suffered to perish, even at the gates of Jerusalem, without the gratification of having fulfilled their vows. This conduct much incensed the European princes; and, at the general council of Clermont, held in the year 1095, the hermit Peter, animated by zealous fervour, depicted the horrid barbarities of the Infidels in such an alarming manner, that the council finally adopted the resolution of recovering the Holy Land by force of arms. Besides the infatuated bigotry which possessed every mind, the predominancy of the ecclesiastical power, which was sanguine in such a cause, rendered an active part in these expeditions eligible; for thereby absolution from sin in this world, and eternal happiness in the next, were supposed to be obtained. The martial spirit of the age also forwarded such designs; the noble, the brave, the devout, all hastened to enlist themselves in such a glorious undertaking; kings and princes disregarded their splendour and ease, and devoted themselves to the call of the church, and of its persecuted sons. By these means a numerous army was collected from every part of Europe, and in the following year began the expedition, under the command of the brave Godfrey, Count of Bouillon. different nations might thereby be distinguished. The national distinction of the English was the white cross, as may be gathered from Tasso, who, however, more particularly refers to the third crusade, achieved within the same century as the first; the colour which the French then generally adopted was red, and their banner, which the King of France received, in vassalage, from the Abbot of St. Dennis, was composed of red taffeta, or strong silk, plain, without portraiture thereon; it was called the Oriflamme, and waved at the head of the French armies, from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries; the Flemings assumed the green cross; and those who belonged to the states of the church were distinguished by the cross keys. Tasso, Bonjardo, Ariosto, &c. poets contemporary with different periods of the crusades, have exemplified, in a beautiful manner, the splendid banners, and armorial ensigns, borne by the assembled nobles, which illustrated the then general bearings. Armories, before the period above alluded to, were simple in their design; the ordinaries, as the fesse, bend, pale, &c. were borne single, or the coat often consisted only in barry, paly, chequy, &c. or semée of crosses or de-lis. Afterwards, they had received the embellishments of romance, and joined the heterogeneous monsters of Gothic fancy, and also gained additional grandeur from the tournaments; but, during the crusades, concurring causes rendered it necessary for armorial charges to be greatly multiplied. The assemblage of so many different nations, among whom the utility of such distinction was acknowledged, caused their improvement and applications to be extended. The cross became subject to an almost indescribable number of forms; amongst those the cross fitchée, or pointed, may be supposed to be the first, for the conveniences of temporary erection for worship and of removal, an idea very probably suggested by the portable altars of the Romans. Amongst other charges then introduced into coat armour, were passion-nails, palmers' staves, the scrip and staff of pilgrimage, which princes and persons of distinction were invested with, who formally assumed the cross and escallop, or cockle-shell, which were the common badges of those that went on pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Peter at Rome, and St. James at Compostella, and was probably in allusion to the former occupation of the Apostles. Much excitement was afforded to the Christian soldiers, during their campaign in Palestine, for the beautifying and adorning their armour with ornaments as splendid and dazzling as their fancies could suggest, from the glittering grandeur of their adversaries' equipage. The military attire of the Saracens was richly and profusely adorned; and the luxuriant treasures of the East were combined with great warlike display in their camps. Policy, and an emulation to vie in magnificence, prompted the chiefs to use every means for increasing their own display, by despoiling, and at the same time weakening, the strength of their enemies. Armorial ensigns, which had been restricted to a certain class of persons only, now became more generally diffused, as their attainment was found to be the incitement to glorious achievements, and a brilliant addition to the splendour of personal appearance; therefore, the . brave were allowed to assume and delineate, at pleasure, commemorative of their exploits, and as armorial badges of distinction, certain of the spoils they had gallantly won from the Infidel; yet, at the same time, they acquired the suitable elevation of rank; for among the definitions of a proper gentleman of coat armour, it is said, that "the thryd is of killing a Sarasyn." Thus a multitude of charges were introduced, both for the shield and for the helmet, as crests. Among these were crescents, Saracens' heads, turbans, Moors, Turks, &c.; also cushions, the attendauts of eastern luxury, water-bougets, or leathern conveyances of that element for the armies, whilst in the Arabian deserts; bezants, money struck at Byzantium; with numerous other bearings, SECTION III. BEFORE we enter into the progress of heraldry in England, it may not be improper to notice, that devices, similar to heraldic symbols, were early used in Wales. Roderic, surnamed the Great, Prince of Wales, in 843, bore, azure, a cross pattée, fitchée in the foot, or: he was descended from Cadwallader, who died about 690, and who bore the either typical or assumed from some capture. The instance same. Aviragus, the brother of Guiderus, and King of of the original assumption of the armorial bearings of Milan is in point with the last observation, and therefore introduced. During the first crusade, Otho, Viscount or Governor of Milan, killed, in single combat, under the walls of Jerusalem, a Saracen Emir, who had defied the Christian army. The emir's golden helmet, retained as a trophy by the conqueror, bore a crowned serpent devouring a child; and hence did this serpent become the armorial ensigns of the Visconti Dukes of Milan. The high renown which attended those expeditions, and the desire of being considered to have acted with the South Britain, so early as the year 45, is said to have borne the same; from whom the pedigree of Cadwallader has been traced. It is remarked by Mr. Dallaway, that the different tribes of the principality of Wales, and the duchy of Cornwall, had not adopted the heraldic symbols of other nations, before their subjection to the English, by the conquest of King Edward I.; and that, by many of those families, scenes or delineations of particular circumstances, real or legendary, are still used as their paternal ensigns; such as the wolf issuing from a cave, a cradle under a tree, with a child, guarded by a goat, and many greatest personal courage therein, which, in those unen-others of a like nature; and that, since their intercourse lightened times, was generally believed to add to eternal with the English nation, the lion rampant, and the plain as well as mundane glory, caused the armorial acquisitions ordinaries, compose, with few exceptions, all the escutcheons that had been so attained to be continued, and displayed they have adopted. That such symbols should have been in every way possible, with the greatest degree of elegance. used, is not to be wondered at; for, in the choice of simple The same causes also rendered them dear to the offspring emblems, they accorded with all other nations. It was of the acquirer, as symbols which perpetuated the memory of the piety, virtue, and valour, of their ancestor; so that those bearings, thus assumed, became the hereditary gentilitial marks of families. We have now taken a general view of the grand occasions which gave birth to heraldry, and effected its present useful, elegant, and scientific form. The intercourse which the laws of chivalry kept up between different nations, and the expeditions which for a time united them, would diffuse the same mode, in regard to this science, generally through Europe. Time, localities, and national habits, may now have produced some differences; and in some countries, armories, and their regulations, may be more obsolete than they are in others; but as constant mutability is attached to the customs of the earth, and its glory unsubstantial, as empires rise and fall, and the modes of government vary, and as the character or sentiments of nations change, this must be the case. From the histories of recent times, we know such instances to have occurred, that the monarchial or other despotic governments have changed places with the constitutive or democratical forms; and that popular clamour or outrage have for a time demolished, or desired to abolish altogether, the form of nobility, with all its appendages; and so pull down the venerable fabric of former ages. This has generally failed; and it must ever do so. In our government, wherein the sway is so happily blended, the same rank, dignity, and honours, have continued to add lustre to the memory of their acquirers, and to ennoble their inheritors, ever since they were first used in this country. We shall now, therefore, confine ourselves solely to this science, as connected with British history, endeavouring to describe its introduction and progress. natural that they should place on their shields the figures of wolves, which they hunted, or of goats, which were of such use to them; for, in the early days of heraldry, men took, for their armorial bearings, those things which were most useful and natural to them in their various pursuits. As heraldry, and the customs of France, had been intro-. duced into England, so they were into Scotland. That nation being, by constant intercourse and alliance, more intimately connected with them, their feudal system, chivalrous customs, and heraldic regulations, were earlier and more strictly followed. We also find all those charges, so common in England, unknown among them; the armorial bearings of the chief were invariably borne by the whole of the collaterals, or clan, differenced by certain ordinaries or charges, or the position of them. There are some very early and remarkable instances of the use of heraldic ensigns in that country, related by Nisbet, which proves this ancient and hereditary usage: from among which, for illustration, we shall select the following. In the reign of Kenneth II. King of Scotland, about the year 840, a near relation of that monarch having been taken prisoner and hung by the Picts, a great reward was offered to any one who would dare to rescue the body from their possession; upon which a soldier presented himself, saying Dal zell, which signifies I dare. Having performed this dangerous task, he took the name of DALZELL, ancestor to the present Earl of Carnworth, and had the arms, crest, and motto, given to him as now borne by that family. The arms which have long been hereditary in the family of Hay, have their origin thus accounted for: when the Scots fled before the Danes at Long Cartey, a husbandman then at plough with his two sons, snatching the yoke in his hands, enemy, and thus gave his countrymen time to rally. To reward his valour, Kenneth III. gave him as much land as a falcon should fly over at one flight; and in the village of Hawkestone, the place is still shown where the bird settled. From the above circumstance the crest is taken; and, after the battle, the three countrymen appearing before their monarch with shields covered with blood, he assigned them for arms, argent, three escutcheons gules: this occurred previous to the year 994. The family of Keith obtained their arms in the year 1006, from the following circumstance. Robert, their ancestor, a chieftain among the Celti, having joined Malcolm II. and being instrumental in obtaining the victory over the Danes, at the battle of Panbridge, himself having killed their general Camus; the king dipping his finger in Camus's blood, drew therewith four strokes on the victor's shield, giving him for his arms, argent, a chief paly of eight, argent and gules. Many other instances, of equal antiquity, are recorded in their histories, unnecessary to be added here. The best authenticated and most early accounts we find on English record, of any devices having being used as back, Earl of Lancaster, who died in 1295, and the painting of the assassination of Thomas à Becket, in Canterbury Cathedral, both furnish armorial devices in this mode. The art of staining glass is contemporary with enamelling, and appears to have obtained much, as ornaments for the windows of churches. The uses of painting on glass, of the earliest antiquity, were appropriated to armories, scrolls bearing inscriptions, and portraits. In the windows of the Cathedral at Chartres, Thebault, Earl of Blois, living in 1218, is represented "revetu son blazon," as it was then usually expressed. Several accounts of delineations in this mode, so frequent in this country, are given by antiquarians, so early as the reign of Edward I.; and Mr. Warton places this custom in an era prior to the reign of Edward II. At first, however, the cost of procuring the display of the arts was so great, that none but the nobles, and more wealthy knights, were able to procure it; but, in process of time, as this became more necessary, and the demand consequently greater, artists of inferior skill were encouraged, and in such numbers as sufficiently to evince the general usage of arms. Much information on this science bas also marks of distinction, are about the period of the Saxon con- been obtained from old rolls, illuminations of arms upon quest. It appears, that when these conquerers made a partition of this kingdom, and established the Heptarchy, a particular device was assigned to each of the principalities, to be borne on their banners, whereby they might be distinguished. These devices were also considered as the gentilitial arms of the sovereign of each principality; for when one of their princes succeeded to the supreme power, he still retained the device, or distinction, which he had formerly borne. This was generally the case, till Edgar, surnamed the Peaceable, ascended the throne, when he added to the cross patonce, which we may suppose was his provincial ensign, four martlets; which number was increased to five by Edward the Confessor. On the completion of the conquest by William, we find the arms of Edward abandoned for those of the Norman Rollo; viz. gules, two lions passant or: to those, Richard I. added a third lion, which, from that time, became the hereditary bearing of his successors, and still continues to be the first and fourth quarterings of our national standard. The quick progress and high estimation which attended heraldry in England, after the period of the Norman couquest, is apparent from the early custom of uniting it with every branch of the arts; so that the display might be more publie, and the effect more brilliant and imposing in the eyes of the commonality. The sculpture of the Saxons, especially in basso relief, the Normans applied to armorial figures, rendering them fit to be used as ornaments of buildings; and thus connected them with the lasting monuments of architecture. The introduction of the mode that vellum, monastic chronicles and manuscripts, lists of knights serving in the royal camp, &c. In many of these last, the name and arms of each chief are very particularly detailed; one of the most ancient is entitled, "Les noms de Chevaliers eu le Champ du Roo, Henri III. A.D. 1220." Another is the celebrated roll of Karlaverok, written in old French verse, wherein the banners and escutcheons of the chiefs, who attended King Edward I. in his expedition into Scotland, are most minutely described, and furnish specimens of the peculiarities of ancient blazonry. There is also another roll extant, in which is inserted the names and arms of nobles, bannerets, and knights, in the reign of Hayard II. amounting to two hundred and sixty. Thus far, assisted by history and the researches of antiquity, we have attempted to prove the manner of the introduction, the original uses, and likewise the causes which produced the dissemination and general adoption of those distinguishing symbols termed arms; but as it is the case with all sciences and arts, that, when first established, they are in a comparative state of imperfection, with regard to the form they afterwards attain, so it has been with the science of heraldry. A gradual improvement, however, which is the consequence of every mode of utility, quickly brought heraldry to its zenith of splendour and perfection; which was effected, partly by the romantic customs of those ages, when personal prowess was considered the chief virtue whereby to obtain honour and glory, and partly through the pride of showing an honourable and worthy descent. Although, after the termination of the crusades, in which made armour the general internal embellishment of castle- Richard joined, arms became general, and were very often halls, is supposed to have sprung from the custom prevalent during feasts, and other public solemnities, of suspending behind each knight his shield, &c. Painting in enamel and distemper, attained great perfection, even in those early centuries; and we are informed, that, during the reigns of the three Edwards, Greek enamellers resided in England, who both practised and taught the art. In the researches of antiquarians, specimens have been discovered, which justify every conjecture. Among the decorations of this kind, in the nave of Westminster Abbey, were forty escut borne by families in an hereditary way; yet, no institution of this kind being firmly established till the time of Henry III. any new incident or fancy caused an alteration or entire change. Mr. Waterhouse remarks, in his defence of arms, that at this time they kept no constant coat, but bore sometimes their paternal, and sometimes their maternal, or adopted arms; which variation causing great obscuration in history, it is not easy to fix, upon true and warrantable grounds, the constant lineal bearing of coats, in a line of unchanged descent, before the time of Henry III. The cheons, supposed to have been painted about the year 1270. celebrated Camden, on whose knowledge many authors The figures discovered round the tomb of Edward Crouch- have relied, had likewise the same opinion, which he gives |