WILL, & M. GENEALOGY OF DR. PLOT, Mowbray Herald Extraordinary. Mr. Alexander Plot, of Stockbury, in Kent, where his family had been= settled in the reign of K. Edward IV. Mr. Robert Plot, of Borden, in Kent, purchased the manor of Sutton, alias Sutton- William Plot, son and heir, of Sutton-Barne. Robert Plot, son and heir, of Sutton-Barne, died April 20, 1669, ætat. 63, buried in the south chancel of Borden church, in which there is a mural monument. By the inscription it appears that he was a captain of militia for the hundred of Middleton, and was taken from Borden under the banner of St. Michael the Archangel. Over it is his shield of arms, quarterly, 1st and 4th Plot; 2d Ermine, a Lion Rampant, Sable; 3d Argent, three Chrevronels, ou each five Besants. Sutton-Barne by the will of her father; at least he devised it to her husband. Mr. John Palmer, married in 1746. Remarry-Rebecca, sole heir. She had the manor of The Plots bore Vert, three Quarterfoils Argent, each charged with a Lion's Head, erased, Sable. WILL. & M. HERALD EXTRAORDINARY. MOWBRAY. Feb. 2, 1694-5.-ROBERT PLOT, Esq. LLD. Dr. Plot, Mowbray herald extraordinary, was a great natural philosopher, and antiquarian. (Of his family, see page 326.) He was born in 1641, at Borden in Kent; educated at Wye-school, in that county; a student, first at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, under the tuition of the noted John Pullen, and thence removed to University College. He attained, whilst at Oxford, the first degrees in Arts, afterwards Bachelor, and lastly LL.D. He became F. R. S., and was appointed Secretary to that learned Society. In 1683, he was made the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, by its founder, at the same time nominated by the Vice-chancellor the first professor of chemistry there: both these places he resigned in 1690. In 1687, the Earl Marshal had given him the place of Secretary to him; in 1688, James II. made him Royal Historiographer; in 1695, a new office in the Heralds' College was created for him; and two days after he was made Registrar of the Court of Honor. He died at his seat of SuttonBarne, in Borden, April 30, 1696, of the stone, at the age of 59, and was buried in the church of Borden, where there is a handsome monument erected to his memory. He left behind him many valuable and curious manuscripts, several of them unpublished. In his life time were printed by him several of the Transactions of the Royal Society, and his Natural Histories of Oxford and Staffordshires. Natural history was his favorite study. It appears by his MSS. now in the hands of Mr. Thorpe of Bexley, that he had formed the design of writing the natural history of Great-Britain, and purposed going through the island, to discover the natural productions, antiquities, and other curiosities. His credulity was extreme, and made every thing that was related to him appear probable, how extravagant soever. When I went into Staffordshire, with a design to collect materials for the history of that county, many of the gentry told me the jests their ancestors had put upon Dr. Plot, "humbugging him most egregiously," 6. as Herald Extraor dinary. Mowbray Herald Extraor dinary. Mowbray. WILL. & M. as they expressed themselves. They told me several of these are recorded, with all the gravity of truth, in the volume. What Granger says of these books is exactly suitable, that" they deserve to be called the natural and "artificial histories of these counties." In the Oxford Almanack for 1749, in which there is a view of Magdalen Hall, the figure of Dr. Plot is the last of the right hand groupe, next to Edward Leigh, Esq., who is represented writing. The print was engraved by Vertue. There is a painting of him in the Ashmolean Museum. Pursuivant Extraordinary. Blanch-lion. PURSUIVANT EXTRAORDINARY. BLANCH-LIO N. May 29, 1690.-HENRY CLOPTON, Gent.-See Rouge-dragon. A N N. Acceded March 8, 1702-3-Died August 1, 1714. In favor of the College, as also to preserve the honor of the nobility and gentry, from persons of meaner rank intruding into their families, and unjustly assuming their arms, and for preventing false blazonry, the Queen issued out her command and pleasure in June, An. Dom. 1707, confirming the Deputy Earl Marshal's order following: "Whereas the ordering, judging, and determining all matters, concerning arms, crests, supporters, cognizances, pedigrees, devices, and ensigns armorial; the making and prescribing rules, ordinances, and decrees, for the granting, controlling, and regulating thereof, and the putting in execution the laws and ordinances relating thereunto; are, among "other powers and authorities, with her Majesty's approbation, invested in 66 me, Henry Earl of Bindon, Deputy to his Grace, Thomas Duke of "Norfolk, Earl Marshal, and Hereditary Marshal of England: and "whereas divers abuses, disorders, and irregularities have been committed " and done by painters, funeral-undertakers, glaziers, goldsmiths, engravers, carvers, chasers, stone-cutters, coach-makers, and others, in "the premises for remedy whereof, for the time coming, these are to "warn, charge, and require, all and every the said artificers, and others "concerned, that they forbear to design and appoint, to and for any persons, any arms or ensigns armorial, by making any arms, crests, supporters, cognizances, pedigrees, and devices, in coat-armor, helm-banners, standards, penons, and hatchments, tents, and pavilions; as also "in plate, metals, jewels, glass, paper, parchment, or otherwise in win"dows, grave-stones, tombs, and monuments, or elsewhere, without suf«ficient direction and authority so to do and likewise strictly to prohibit "and forbid all coach-makers, and others concerned in making mourning * coaches and chairs for the nobility and gentry, that they do not use var"nished U u ANN. ANN. "nished bullion nails: as they, the said several artificers and others, herein afore-mentioned and intended, will answer the contempt hereof at their peril. At the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, it was agreed that Lion king of arms for the latter, is to be accounted the second king of arms in all public ceremonies, and to take place next after Garter, principal king of arms. In the reign of Queen Ann, after the year 1707, and in the following ones, whenever Lion generally has attended, it has been in the place assigned him. A late author, speaking of Lion king of arms, says, it" is an office of great antiquity and respect in Scotland, and although the precise time of its institution is unknown, yet it must have "been as early as the introduction of armorial figures, as hereditary marks "of gentility and distinction into this country, which was in the twelfth century*. His regalia are, a crown of gold with a crimson velvet cap, a gold tassel, and an ermine lining; a velvet robe reaching to his feet, "with the arms of the kingdom embroidered thereon, before and behind, "in the proper tinctures ; a triple row of gold chain round his neck, with "an oval gold medal pendent thereto, on one side of which is the royal bearing, and on the other St. Andrew, with his cross enamelled green, powdered with the badges of the kingdom. The Lord Lion's rank is superior to that of any other king of arms, as he holds his office imme"diately from the Sovereign, by commission under the great seal; whereas "the kings of arms in England are deputies to the Earl Marshal, and act "under his authority. Formerly Scotland was divided into two provinces, "the one on the north, and the other on the south side of Forth; and these provinces were under the management of two deputies, appointed by "the Lord Lion to superintend the execution of all the business of his "office. Before the Revolutiont the Lord Lion, at his admission into of fice, was most solemnly crowned by the Sovereign, or his Commissioners, 66 “in * I should think this is too early a date. Lion, it is evident, had greater privileges than Garter, being Earl Marshal, as far as related to the College of Heralds; yet in precedency Garter would always have the superiority. + Revolution-should read Union. |