The Curiosities of Heraldry Part 11

"HOC AQUILae CAPUT EST, SIGNUMQUE FIGURA JOHANNIS."

The Abbot of Ramsay bore, in the same way, _a ram in the sea_, with an appropriate legend. One Harebottle expressed his name by a _hare_ upon a _bottle_; while Islip, abbot of Westminster, represented his by a man slipping out of a tree, and supposed to exclaim, "I slip!" These "painted poesies," as Camden styles them, occur chiefly in painted gla.s.s windows, in decorated Gothic architecture, and in the t.i.tle-pages of early printed books.[159]

One of the most singular rebuses I have seen occurs in a window in the chapel at Lullingstone, co. Kent, the seat of Sir P. H. d.y.k.e, Bart. It is that of Sir John Peche. In this instance the arms of the personage are surrounded by a wreath, composed of two branches of a peach tree bearing fruit, every peach being marked with an Old English =e=; Peach-e. It is curious that this device proves the true p.r.o.nunciation of the name, which was formerly supposed to be Peche.

The common rebus, although it did not come into general use until after the introduction of regular heraldry, may boast of a much higher antiquity, for such devices occur as the representatives of names of no less eminence than those of Cicero and Caesar; not to mention those of celebrated sculptors and mint-masters, who, in the palmiest days of Rome, frequently marked the productions of their genius with a rebus. Taking into consideration the great antiquity of these "name-devices," and their early introduction into the armorial s.h.i.+eld, I cannot see any good reason for the strong prejudices which have existed against them in modern times.

To me, indeed, they appear not only 'allowable' but 'commendable' armory; for arms, like names, are signs of personality, and therefore those which 'speak to the eye' most intelligibly are preferable to those charges which have in themselves no meaning.[160]

There can be no doubt but that, from the mutations our language has experienced within the last six centuries, many of the allusions contained in coats of arms are greatly obscured, while others are totally lost. The arms of the family of Eschales, now written Scales, exhibit eschalops (escallops), and those of Sykes, fountains--a _syke_, in the northern dialects, signifying a spring, or rather that kind of well, which was formerly sunk within the precincts of a camp.

In order to show how numerous allusive arms are in English armory, I will here give a list of those occurring in the Baronetage as it stood in 1836,[161] omitting, for the sake of brevity, the details of the blazon.

BACON. (Crest.) A boar.

Sh.e.l.lEY. Three whelk-_sh.e.l.ls_.

BURDETT of Bramcote. Six birds (martlets).

FOULIS. Three leaves (feuilles, Fr.)

PALMER. (Crest.) A demi panther, holding a palm-branch. Motto: "Palma virtuti."

RIVERS. Two bars dancette. Query: if these were not originally _wavy_, to represent _rivers_?

MANSELL. Three maunches.

HAZLERIGG. Three hazel-leaves.

GORING. Three annulets (rings!)

WOLSELEY. (Crest.) A wolf's head.

BURGOYNE. Three _birds_ (martlets), and three talbots (_canes_).

HAMPSON. Three hemp-breaks.

SWINBURNE. (Crest.) A demi boar.

ASHBURNHAM. (Crest.) An ash tree.

BROOKE. (Crest.) A _Brock_ (O. E. for badger).

BURDETT of Burthwaite. Three birds (martlets).

HEAD. Three unicorns' heads.

OXENDEN. Three oxen.

PARKER of London. A stag's head.

RAMSDEN. Three ram's heads.

COLT. Three colts.

WARRENDER. (Crest.) A rabbit.

FEATHERSTONHAUGH. Three feathers.

SHEFFIELD. Three garbs (sheaves).

CUNLIFFE. Three conies.

WOLFF. (Crest.) A wolf.

BERNARD-MORLAND. Quarters a bear.

COOTE. Three cootes.

HERON. Three herons.

SYKES. Three fountains (sykes, vide p. 126).

FLETCHER. Four arrow-heads.

BEEVOR. (Crest.) A beaver.

HUNTER-BLAIR. Three hunting horns.

MILLER. A cross moline.

CALL. Three trumpets.

GOULD. _Or_, a griffin segreant.

BARING. A bear's head.

LAMB. Three lambs.

BOUGHEY-FLETCHER. Four arrows.

TROWBRIDGE. An antient bridge.

MILNES. Three windmill-sails.

BALL. A hand-grenade.

BAYNES. Cross bones.