268

DISPLAYED EAGLES.

may mention the armorial insignia of Richard, Earl of Cromwell, brother of Henry III., and of the ancient family of Latham, in the fourteenth century. A curious instance of a shield placed on the breast of a Hawk is noticed by Hone in his Table Book, viz., the arms of the Lord of the Manor of Stoke-Lyne, in the county of Oxford. It appears that when Charles 1. held his parliament at Oxford, the offer of knighthood was gratefully declined by the then Lord of Stoke-Lyne, who merely requested, and obtained, the royal permission to place the arms of his family upon the breast of a hawk, which has ever since been employed in the capacity of supporter. Sometimes the eagle's breast is charged with more than one shield, as in the case of the seals of Margaret Stewart, Countess of Angus (1366), and Euphemia Leslie, Countess of Ross (1394), on both of which three escutcheons make their appearance.1

The royal arms of Prussia are supported by an eagle with two heads, and the same arrangement, as already stated, is adopted in marshalling the present bearings of the City of Perth.

The well-known seal of Muriel of Stratherne (1284) furnishes a curious example of something approaching to a single heraldic supporter. As already stated, it is strangely misrepresented and described by Sir George

close of the thirteenth century they assumed, in lieu of the eagle, a fess checquy, argent and azure, probably in consequence of "close alliance, by kindred and interest, with the High Steward," the eagle being for a time retained as the tenant or supporter

of the escutcheon.-See Lives of the Lindsays, i. 55; also Plate IV.

1 Laing's Catalogue, Nos. 791 and 499. See also Plate x. fig. 5, which represents an earlier impression of the seal of the Countess of Ross, from a charter dated 1381.