THE
CURIOSITIES OF HERALDRY.
WITH
Illustrations from Old English Writers.
BY
MARK ANTONY LOWER,
AUTHOR OF “ENGLISH SURNAMES,” ETC.
WITH NUMEROUS WOOD ENGRAVINGS,
From Designs by the Author.
LONDON:
JOHN RUSSELL SMITH,
4, OLD COMPTON STREET, SOHO.
MDCCCXLV.
C. AND J. ADLARD, PRINTERS, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.
PREFACE.
Little need be said to the lover of antiquity in commendation of thesubject of this volume; and I take it for granted that every one who readsthe history of the Middle Ages in a right spirit will readily acknowledgethat Heraldry, as a system, is by no means so contemptible a thing as themere utilitarian considers it to be. Yet, notwithstanding, how few arethere who have even a partial acquaintance with its principles. To howmany, even of those who find pleasure in archæological pursuits, does thecharge apply:
“—neque enim clypei cælamina norit.”
Two hundred years ago, when the study of armory was much more cultivatedthan at present, this general ignorance of our ‘noble science’ calledforth the [Pg iv]censure of its admirers. Master Ri. Brathwait, lamenting it,says of some of his contemporaries:
“They weare theire grandsire’s signet on their thumb,
Yet aske them whence their crest is, they are mum;”
and adds:
“Who weare gay coats, but can no coat deblaze,
Display’d for gulls, may bear gules in their face!”[1]
This invective is perhaps a little too severe, yet it is mildness itselfwhen compared with that of Ranulphus Holme, son of the author of the‘Academy of Armory,’ who declares that unless the reader assents to whatis contained in his father’s book he is
“neither Art’s nor Learning’s friend,
But an ignorant, empty, brainless sot,
Whose chiefest study is the can and pot!”
Now, though I would by no means place the objector to Heraldry upon thesame bench with the devotee of Bacchus, nor even upon the stool of thedunce, yet I hope to make it appear that the study is worthy of moreattention than is generally conceded to it.[2] At the same time I wish itto be distinctly understood that I do not over-rate its importance. “Thebenefit arising from different pursuits will differ, of course, in[Pg v]degree, but nothing that exercises the intellect can be useless, and inthis spirit it may be possible to study even conchology withoutdegradation.”
Many persons regard arms as nothing more than a se