said the Inner Temple hath lately assumed to themselves a Pegasus whereof in particular I spare to relate any more for the same is vulgarly known to all To the Inner House was also appropriated divers learned Legists from time to time which in number continuance and gifts of Nature did exceed every other of the said Innes of Court And therefore was anciently tearmed Inner Temple Boun Pleader Which continueth to this very day and it is withall much esteemed of beautified and graced with a special Garden plot famous for its situation neatnesse and nearnesse of the River The Ensign is Azure a Pegasus Argent Lincolns Inne This House owning a right to the Arms as well as name of the Lacyes Earls of Lincolne have set up over the Gate the Lyon Rampant purpure committing a great mistake in that if Sir John Fern's account of that Familie of the Lacyes be true which hath passed for authentick for he tels us that Or a Lyon Rampant purpure was his right but it was only a quartering and not the paternall Coat for his first and principall bearing was party per Crosse Gules 〈◊〉 a bend Sables over all a file or three Labels Arg. and this was the proper Coat of those Lacyes the other was the Coat of the Lord Nigeld or Neal Baron of Halton This Society of Lincolnes Inne the next for antiquity and ancient Ally to the Middle Tenple is situate in a Street or Lane known formerly by the name of New-street and now Chancery lane being once the Mansion-house of a Gentleman called William de Havershall Treasurer to King Henry the third who for disloyalty to his Soveraign was by the said King attainted of Treason so that thereby his house and lands became annext to the Crown And thereupon the King gave this house to Ralph de Nova villa vulgo Nevill Chancellor of England as appeareth by an ancient Record Who also was Bishop of Chichester and kept his habitation or place of abode in that place This House came afterwards to the hands of Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln by reason whereof it was called Lincolns Inne and keepeth the style to this day This Earl Henry deceased in that house about the year of our Lord 1310. Neverthelesse this house did afterwards continue to the Bishops of Chichester untill the 〈◊〉 of King Henry the eighth and the interest thereof came by conveyance to Justice Gullyard and other Feoffees who during his life and after him his posterity held it untill the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth and then Sir Edw. Gullyard Knight to whom the same did successively descend by Inheritance sold the same with the Inheritance thereof to the Benchers and Society thereof There is no memory of any florishing Estates of the Students and professors of the Common Lawes resident in this Colledge until the reign of King Henry the sixth when it appeareth by the Rolls and remembrances of that house that the same became somewhat to be famous But now of late time this house hath been much enlarged and beautified with ranks of goodly Edifices and also with a fair and goodly Chappel The first of the chiefest buildings thereof was begun at the cost of Sir Thomas Lovell Knight then or before a fellow of that Society who erected that fair Gate-house into Chancery lane of brick and free stone whereupon is engraven the Arms of Lacy Earl of Lincoln together with his own The said Chancery lane is so called for that King Edward the third in the fifteenth year of his reign annexed the house of Covents by Patent to the Office of Chancery now called the Rolls Grays Inne Beareth Sables a Griffin Rampant Or. This house was sometimes the abiding Mansion of the Noble Family of Gray from whence the name of the house is deduced It is situate within the Mannor Poorpoole a Prebendary antiently belonging to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul London In the reign of King Edward the third the Gentlemen Students of that Society as is confidently affirmed took a Grant of this house from the said Baron Gray who lived in those dayes And it is held probable that the Grayes Armes have been anciently by this fellowship maintained and are still taken up and kept as the proper and peculiar Ensigne of that Colledge or house and thus the same is found portraited Barry of six Arg. Azure a bordure quarterly Or and of the second But now of late yeares this honorable Society have assumed for their proper Coat Armor or Ensign of honor A Griffin Or in a field Sables Thavies Inne Beareth Azure two Garbes Or on a bend Gules On a Chief Sable a letter T. Arg. Hereafter ensue the inferior Hostels ordained for Students that professe the practice of the Common Law of this Realm to the end they may the better obtain unto themselves the understanding of the Principles grounds of the same Laws and be thereby the better prepared for to manage the causes of the Subjects in the severall Courts of Justice within the Dominions whether at Westminster or elsewhere and also by their labour and Industry to become graduates and be the better enabled to be entred into the Innes of Court These inferior Courts being Nurseries and are entituled Inns of Chancery And first for this Thavies Inne It is probable that the house by all conjecture is the most ancient of all others of that nature and it doth in that regard challenge the precedency in this rank This house was in the raigne of King Edward the third as is by 〈◊〉 to be found the dwelling and mansion house of one John Thavye Citizen and Armourer of London and was by the then Apprentices of the Law held of him at a certain Rent annual as by a Record yet to be seen in the Husting Courts of London doth appeare and may be verified for antiquity But since that time the House hath been purchased by the Benchers or the Antients of Lincolns Inne which about the raign of King Henry the seventh to the end that there might be entertained in that place a Society of Students practisers and Professors of the Common Laws of this Realm And this house still retaineth the name of the said Thavies who was the first owner of it as is before mentioned Furnivals Inne Beareth Arg. a bend betwixt six Martlets within a bordure Azure This house was sometime the Mansion of Sir William Furnivall in the raign of King Richard the second as by Record appeareth He was afterwards Lord Furnival his heir general married to Sir John Talbot created Earl of Shrewsbury by King Henry the sixth by reason whereof this Mansion house came to the family of the 〈◊〉 Earls of Salop and afterwards of later years in the raign of Queen Elizabeth the same house was by the Benchers or the Ancients of Lincolns Inne purchased for the serting into the same a Society of Students of the Common Lawes from George Lord Talbot Earl of Salop as by sundry
only but in Church preferments also and by this means is it that so much corruption and abuse is the daily leprosie both of the Civill and Ecclesiasticall State The Romans were so carefull of the preservation of Honor that they had a custom by which the children of noble Persons unprovided for should be maintained out of the common treasury which custom though all ages have most infinitely applauded our Nation hath so absolutely exploded that the Gentry are in all cases hindred as much as may be of all preferments that should give it them without burthen to the Common-wealth But it is to be hoped succeeding times will produce better manners Of the Esquire THe division of these Dignities of Honour was antiently but into twelve parts but the addition of Knight Baronet hath made them thirteen The six first only Noble as the Gentleman Esquire Knight Bacheler Knight Banneret Knight Baronet and Baron The other seven Princely and are allowed Crowns and Coronets as the Viscount Earl Marquesse Duke Prince King and Emperour Sir John Ferne placeth the Viscount in the first division but I think improperly in regard of his Coronet Of the lowest of these enough is said the next is the Esquire according to my intended method The Esquire or Escuyer is called in Latine Armiger but more antiently Scutiger from the office of bearing a Shield as an attendant upon a Knight and were militaris ordinis candidati in the field because they served not as Knights Bachelers nor Bachelers which was then a distinction The etymology of the word will something signifie as much being from Scutum in Latin and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek which is a Shield from the antient way of making it in leather Armiger nuncupatus est qui Domini sui 〈◊〉 bajulat ipsisque 〈◊〉 cingit saith Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossarium p. 50. Neither came this title in honorary amongst us till the reign of Richard the second though the Title as to office was much antienter amongst us yet the antientest mention of it is in Order Vitalis speaking of William Fitz-Osberne Earl of Hereford and Odo Earl of Kent in the time of the Conqueror Nam Armigeros suos immodicas praedas c. facientes Dr. Argentre President of the Parliament of Rhemes speaks thus of them Esquires are Qui scutums Ducibus aut Patronis praeferebant posteriùs et Strateres qui Dominos in equos tolleren equos regerent Is qui primus inter coeteros gradus Nobilitatis And Verstegen tells us the Teutonick word was Scyld-knapae which is a Shield-serviture but some have since gotten another distinction for the title which is that they are Gentlemen bearing Arms and Armories in testimony of Nobility or race from whence they are come Sir Edward Cook in his Exposition upon the Statute of 1 Hen. 3. chap. 5. of Additions saith that the word Esquire Armiger or Scutiger in legal understanding is derived ab armis quae clypeis gentilitiis honoris insignia gestant In which sense as a name of estate and degree it was used in divers Acts of Parliament before the making of that Statute and after also But by this the Honour of the title is lost and every Gentleman of Coat-Armor shall have as great a share in it as themselves which in truth hath not been since the dividing the Gentility into these two divisions when this title of Esquire was made a legall and appropriated addition Of these there are four sorts By Creation by Birth by Dignity and by Office Esquires by Creation are sometimes made by Patent as one Jo. de Kingston was by King Richard as I mentioned before being received into the state of a Gentleman and made an Esquire and sometimes by the giving of a collar of SS by the King as an ensigne of the title Eúmve saith Sir Henry Spelman argentatis calcaribus donaverit Which silver Spurs were given by the King as the Gold was to the Knight to difference the Honor from whence they are called White-spurs There is commonly given to him also an addition to his paternall Coat or a new Coat if he owned none before which is due to the descendents onely of his body not related to any of his line besides and the eldest son of that Coat-Armor is ever an Esquire Esquires by birth are the eldest sons of Knights and their eldest sons successively Sir John Ferne and Sir Henry Spelman call all Esquires that being the sons of Lords are not allowed the title of Lords but Sir Henry Spelman again Propriè natalitio jure Armigeri dicuntur Equitum auratorum filii primogeniti ex ipsis haeredes inperpetuum masculi Those by Office are such as bearing high Offices in the Commonwealth or Kings Palace have not the augmentation of Knighthood or Lordship Such are the Sergeants at Law Sheriffs Escheators the Sergeant of every Office in the Court But these are only the possessors of that dignity it dying with them And not only so but if he lose his Office that is a Gentleman by Office he lo seth his Gentility also And this ennobling by Office was also among the Saxons and hath so continued among them saith Mr. Lambert If a Churle so thrived that he had fully five Hides of Land of his own a Church and a Kitchen a Bell-house and a Gate a Seat a severall Office in the Kings Hall then was he the Theynes right worthy Amongst which sort of Esq those four of the Kings body are the principall which he saith are to be esteemed above the elder sons of Knights And indeed in all processions of State they go before the Master of the Jewell-house all Judges or Sergeants at the Law Of Knighthood in generall and of the Knight Bacheler OF the distinctions by Knighthood there are many in other parts of the World but in England only these Knights Batchelers Knights of the Bath Knights Bannerets and Knights Baronets and Knights of the Garter The word Knight as Mr. Selden saith coming from the Saxon 〈◊〉 which signified puer or servus as Dienaknecht is yet among the Dutch for a man-servant So Tenants by Knights service were called Milites or Chivalers because their service was military Knights saith Mr. Cambden who of our English Lawyers are termed also in Latin Milites and in all Nations almost besides took their name of Horses The Italians call them Cavalari the French Chevaliers the Germans Kutters and our Britans in Wales Margagh all of Riding Englishmen only term them Knights by a word that in old English-language as also of the German signifieth indifferently a Servitour or Minister and a lusty young man Hereupon it cometh that in the old written Gospels translated into the Saxon we read for Christs disciples Christs leorning knights And elsewhere for Client or Vassal 〈◊〉 And Bracton our ancient civill Lawyer maketh mention of Rad Cnyhts that is
King who gives it him that is created Then he returning thanks for his great honor withdraws in the same manner he came in the Trumpers sounding and so he goes to dinner Where after the second service is gone up the Garter with the rest of the Heralds cometh neer the Table where first pronouncing Largesse with a loud voyce he declareth the King's style in Latin French and English and then standing somewhat further off pronounceth Largesse again with the style of him that is newly created In which form was William Cecill created Lord Burghley 15. of Febr. 13. Elizab. Of the Viscount THis word in Latin is Vice-comes which is interpreted from the office of the person who was one cui Dominus hoc est Comes committit vices suas sive gubernationem castri saith Sir John Ferne. The Title is derived from the same Order in France which there were only first substitutes to Earls till getting themselves first in power got also to have the title honorary and hereditary between the Earl and Baron it being the same word which signifieth our Sheriffe and began not with us till about the 18. year of Henry the sixth who then created John Lord Beaumont Viscount Beaumont by Letters patent Though Sir John Fern tells us of it in the time of Henry the first and King Stephen and though the Elder sons of Dukes are styled Earls during their fathers life time so the Eldest sons of Marquesses are styled by their Fathers Vicounties and Baronies and called Lords and the younger sons saluted with Lord yet it is by 〈◊〉 only To this degree is allowed a Surcoat Mantle Hood and a Circulet without either flowers or points as in the discourse of Armory shall be seen and is created with the same ceremony those above him are Of the Count or Earl THe next precedency is an Earl called in Latin Comes and thence is an English word Count which word Comes we have from the example of the Romans amongst whom they used it for the title of sundry offices Coke defines them thus Dicuntur Comites quia à Comitatu five à societate nomen sumpserunt qui etiam dici possunt Consules a Consulendo c. But John of Salisbury who writ in the time of Henry the second says thus Comites dici à 〈◊〉 participatione And the word Earl we had from the Saxons from whence till we borrowed the word Honor we used the word Earl for gentle or noble and Ethel which was sometimes abridged to el so that of Ear-ethel it was Ear-el and by abbreviation Earl which the Dutch called Eorle Amongst the Germans they have the word Grave for it as Palsgrave Landgrave Reingrave c. from the word Gerefa by abbreviation Gereve and Grave as also Reve from whence our Shierreve or Shirriffe as some do abbreviate it Which word in the Teutonick signifies a Disposer or Director Others have That the word with the Saxons was Erlig and Ethling and used for the same office of Ealderman was before and the word Ealderman which now is writ Alderman was transferred to a lower degree who used the word also Thegon or Thaine for Baron as I said before But the word Ealderman and Ethling it seems did only signifie them according to Civill power and the word Heretoga from whence Hertshog for their Military power the former word being no more then Senior or Senator This title of Ealdermen continued for Duces Principes Comites untill Canutus reign when the word Earl was brought in and the other lost as to that Honor. What the Jurisdiction of the Ealderman in those times was and how absolute or large is to me yet uncertain though large it was doubtlesse because of the severall Offices that were under them but as it hath remained since the Conquest we find more reasonable satisfaction Their possessions were sometimes the whole Territories they derived their Title from and sometimes not but some particular 〈◊〉 or place in it We find also that both it and Thane were honorary and feudall Titles Upon the coming in of the Normans this word was turned into Comes or Count since when it hath remained And this word in the Empire was given to Quotquot è Comitatu Principis erant to all that were admitted to society of the Prince So the 〈◊〉 styled them in Warre Commilitones in the Court Comites The dignity is of divers kinds for an Earl acknowledging no Superior is equall to a Prince This Title as it continues since the Conquest is either locall or personall Locall as from the denomination of some County or other Territory and Personall that hath its being in some great Office as Earl-Marshal and the like Those locall are also simplices and Palatine which last retain the same constitution the Saxons time allowed them which is Juraeregalia or merum mixtum Imperium and could make Barons under them as those of Chester Lancaster the Bishopricks of Durham and Ely Hugh Lupus had the County Palatine of Chester given him by the Conquerour Ita liberè ad Gladium 〈◊〉 ipse Rex tenebat Angliam ad Coronam Who governed the County forty years he created eight Barons and built the Abbey of Chester Lancaster was made a Palatinate by Edward the third as says Sir William Segar and had Barons Chancery and Seal and so had the Bishopricks of Durham and Ely The office of those Barons being to sit in Councell and Judgment with the Earl To the County Palatine of Chester 〈◊〉 been Chamberlains who supplied the place of Chancellor Justices before whom the causes that should else belong to the King's Bench and Common Pleas are triable a Baron of the Exchequer a Sheriffe and other offices proportionably to those of the Crown at Westminster which being since reserved in the Crown is given to the Prince of Wales when he is created This County had this honor I conceive out of regard to the great trust was reposed in the first Earl which was to subdue and keep in order the British or Welch after the Conquest Of those that are not Palatine we find their Creation also as ancient as the Conquest William theConqueror made Alan Fergent thenDuke of Brittaign Earl of Richmond by a Patent The Creation Robe of a Marquesse Of the Marquesse THis word Marquesse at the first was used to all Earls and Barons that were Lords Marchers or Lords of Frontires and came afterward into a Title of speciall dignity between that of Duke and Earl beginning in the time of Richard the second who created Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford Marquesse of Dublin Per gladii cincturam circuli aurei suo capiti positionem The form of the Patent was then and many ages since very various but it is now regulated to one method which is the same in a manner with that of Earl only the word Marchio is put in the
Argent the Arms of the Episcopall Sea of Bath and Wells The third is Gules a Saltyre Or surmounted of another Vert by the name of Andrews The fourth is Sables a Saltyre Argent in the fesse point an Inescutcheon Or charged with a Crosse Gules and this though we should allow colour upon colour and metall upon metall to be false Herauldry yet is good the last being the charge of a distinct Scutcheon it being of pretence and of another family The last of these Ordinaries is the Barre which though it is allowed the Honor of a particular Ordinary yet in my opinion is but a diminutive of the Fesse however differs only in this that it hath the liberty of the field and taketh place any where which the Fesse cannot this also hath its diminutives being subdivided into a closette and barrulet First of the barre as in the first quarter of this Scutcheon Azure three barres Wavy 〈◊〉 by the name of 〈◊〉 The second Argent three Barres and a Canton Gules by the name of Fuller The third Gules two Barres and a Chief indented O by the name of Hare The fourth is Or a closset Sanguine this is the one 〈◊〉 of the barre The fifth is Sables a Barrulet Argent this containeth the one fourth part of the Barre The sixth beareth Gules on a Cheveron Arg. three Barres gemmels Sables these are called Gemmells when they are placed in couples at a near distance and more than two in the field in even number The seventh is Ermin three Barres couped Gules charged with six Escollups shells or three in the first two in the second and one in the last by the name of Sabridge Court. The eighth is barry of ten Or and Azure in a Canton Gules a Chaplet Argent by the name of Holms of 〈◊〉 The ninth is Barry of six on a Chief between two 〈◊〉 party per bend dexter and sinister two pallets Or and Azure over all an Inescutcheon Arg. which was the 〈◊〉 of Mortimer Earl of March Thus have I run through all the Ordinaries with their varieties of Barring in their due order according to their usuall terms of proper Blazonry In the next I shall shew some other forms of Charges framed of such like lines in the Escutcheons and then proceed to shew 〈◊〉 all the parting 's counterchanges First then as in this shield there is Or an Orle Azure by the name of Bartram Lord of Bothall The second is Or an Orle of three pieces 〈◊〉 The third Argent an Orle engrayled on the inner side Gules The fourth is Or a double Tressure Flory 〈◊〉 The fifth is Sables a Fret Or by the Lord Mautravers now quartered by the Earl of Arundel The sixth Vert 〈◊〉 Or this with the distinction of a second Brother in a third House is the Coat-Armor of Sir George Whitmore late Lord Mayor of London In the three last are a 〈◊〉 a Lozenge and a Mascle The Pile is an honorable bearing though not to be reckoned among the Ordinaries as some would have it this hath divers ways of bearing and is free to any place of the field but its property is to issue from the middle chief and extend with an acute angle almost to the middle base and then is termed plainly a Pile but if otherwise you are to distinguish as this 〈◊〉 quarterings will demonstrate The first Argent a pile Gules this belonged to Sir John Candoys in the time of Edward the third The second is Or three piles meeting near in the base of the Escutcheon Azure by Sir George Brian The third is Argent three piles one issuing out of the chief between two other transposed Sables by the name of Huls The fourth is Argent a triple pile flory on the tops issuing out of the sinister base in bend Sables by the name of Wroton The fifth is Argent a pile in bend issuing out of the dexter chief in pale Sables Cottised engrayled Argent And here in the same Scutcheon for their nearnesse of form have I inserted the Gyron with its varieties As in the sixth Gules a Gyron issuing out of the dexter point Or. The seventh is Argent two Gyrons Gules These do always meet in 〈◊〉 with their points and therefore 〈◊〉 is needlesse to name the place onely naming their number and colour The eighth is Gyrony of eight pieces Or and Azure a Canton Ermin by the name of Octon The last is Gyrony of twelve Argent and Sables and so are they always to be blazoned Gyrony of so many if they be more then two These I must confesse should properly have been placed among the counter-changes But my digression is excusable since it is so near concerned as the single Gyron belonging properly to that place and then that the counter-changes are so near in a concordancy as the next discourse must bring them in which is to describe the partitions and counter-changes according to the disposition of every Ordinary and first of the partitions as in the first next example The first in this example is party per Crosse Arg. and Gules by Sir Henry Cock of Hertfordshire and here is to be noted that though the mettle be more honorable yet if the colour possesse the dexter part or chiefest part of the Field that is first to be named And by the way I must here observe that some will have this to be blazoned quarterly but certainly improperly unlesse the quarters were charged for why should this Ordinary above all the rest be denyed the priviledge of partition which all have but the chief that in its propriety is formed but of one line The second quarter bears party per pale a bend counter-changed Argent and Gules by Sir Geofry Chaucer The third party per bend Or and Vert by the name of Hawly The fourth party per Cheveron Sables and Argent by the name of Aston The fifth party per Fesse Or and Azure The sixth party per Pile in point Or and Sables Now the difference betwixt this and the Pile alone is that the lines meet at the very base of the Escutcheon and others short and sometimes this is changed by a Reverse as in the next example which is The seventh party per pile reversed Or Gules and Sables which is very rare for the distinction of the field into three colours as the last is also The eighth is party per Saltyre Ermine and Gules The ninth is party per pale and base Gules Argent and Sable The counter-changes are thus first party per pale Or and Gules three roundalls counterchanged The second is party per Cheveron unde three Panthers bends erased counter-changed Sab. and Or by the name of Smith of Norfolk The third is pally of six a bend-pally as many all counter-changed Argent and Gules which is a quartering of that honorable Gentleman the Lord Strafford The fourth is barry of six party per pale indented Argent and Gules counter-changed The fifth is barry pily
of eight pieces Gules and Or by the name of Holland The sixth is paly-bendy Or and Sables The seventh is paly of six Argent and Gules on a chief as the field as many crescents all counter-changed The eighth is barry of six Argent and Sables indented one in the other The ninth is barry bendy Arg. and Sables Thus I have run through all the bearings of the Ordinaries both plain and in their variety together with the partitions and counter-changes I shall now as concisely lay down all the Ordinary bearings as well of Natural and Celestial things as all Sublunaries of Beasts Birds Fishes Vegetables and Artificials in the best method I can according to the Blazon of Leigh 〈◊〉 Guillim and others the best I could consult in this study Of Celestialls As for Celestialls I shall skip over some of them as Angells Cherubims and the like because they are obvious enough to every man's judgment when ever they are met with as some of these examples are also The first of these quarterings shews the example of Gules an Increscent Or by the name of Descus The second Azure the Sun in its full glory by the name of St. Cleere The third is Azure the Moon decrescent proper where the difference from the first is from the contrary position of them which is the same in the Firmament And by this rule any man at the first sight may know in what state the Moon is though he never saw an Almanack The fourth is Azure a Moon in her complement proper The fifth Or the Sun eclipsed Sables The sixth is Argent the Moon in her Eclipse Sables The seventh Azure a Ray of the Sun issuing out of the dexter corner of the Escutcheon bend-wayes proper by the name of Aldham The eighth is Gules a chief Argent at the lower part thereof the Rayes of the Sun issuing out of a Clowd proper by the name of Lesone of Northamptonshire The ninth is Azure a Comet Or streaming proper And unto these I have added one more Escutcheon of the like bearings because of the rareness of them The first is Azure Jupiters Thunderbolt in Pale Or enflamed at both ends proper shafted Saltyre-wayes and winged Fesse-wayes Argent The second Argent a Rain-bowe proper issuing out of two peteet clowds in fesse Azure The third Gules a chief Argent over all an Escarbuncle of eight staves-pommette and Florette Or which saith Guillim was the Coat-Armor of the Earls of Anjou of whom was Geoffry Plantagenet The fourth is Or six fire-brands enflamed proper The fifth Sables a bend Or between six Fountains proper by the Lord Sturton The sixth Argent a Cheveron Sables between three flames of fire proper The seventh is Sables a Star of eight points Or between two Flanches Ermin and a Canton of Ulster by Sir John Hubbart of Norfolk The eighth party per bend Crenelle pointed the one in the other Argent Azure four Crescents by couples enterlaced counterchanged The ninth Ermin on a chief Sab. three Crescents arg Of Beasts NExt of Beafts as in my opinion the most proper to order as the more noble creatures though I confesse it is contrary to Mr. Guillims Method And of those in the first place Lions as the principall of them which are diversly born and from their severall postures receive a severall character of blazoning which is cautiously to be observed as well as in other things and it is not difficult for any indifferent genius without much discourse which would but make up a tedious prolixity to little or no purpose when Verbum sapienti sat est is a Proverb in every man's mouth The first example is of Azure a Lion Rampant Argent being the Coat-Armor of Roger de Montealto who was a Benefactor to Westminster-Abbey The second is Or a Lion Sayliant Gules The third is Gules a Lion passant Guardant Or which being the Coat-Armor of the Dukes of Aquitane was joyned with the Coat of the Kings of England by the 〈◊〉 of Henry the second being before two Lions the posture and colours one then indeed called Leopards as they are most properly so called where they are not of Royall bearing if they be more then one in a field and Guardant as 〈◊〉 would have it This same single Lion passant guardant onely the colours contrary as Or a Lion passant guardant Gules says the Welch petegree was the Coat-Armor of Roderick the great Prince of Wales in the year 843. By which account Coat-Armor hath gained a great Antiquity The fourth example is of Lions passant and not guardant which is Gules two barres Ermin in chief a Lion passant party per pal Or Argent by the name of Hill of Norfolk The fifth is Gules a Lion Seiant Argent The sixth is Or a Lion Couchant Gul. The seventh is Azure a Lion Dormant Or. The eighth is Or a Lion Rampant regarding Coward Sables The last is Gules a tri-corporated Lion issuing out of three corners of the field and meeting under one head in fesse Or which was the Coat-Armor of Edward Crouchback Earl of Lancaster Lions are sometimes with the tail elevated over the head sometimes with the tail forked and sometimes you shall meet with Demy-Lions which is half Lions passant and Rampant and sometimes heads erased or couped but if Cabossed then they are ever 〈◊〉 Leopards heads as in these examples The first Azure on a chief Or a Demy-Lion Rampant issuant out Gules languid and armed of the first by the name of Markham The second is Azure three Demy-Lions passant guardant Or languid and armed Gules by the name of Hammon of Acris in Kent Now the French are so severe that they will not allow the tearms of Lion to any either Whole or Demy that are guardant but I think without reason The third is Or out of the midst of a Fesse Sable a Demy-Lion Rampant Naissant Gules languid and armed Azure Where it is proper to take notice that if it be armed or languid by any other colour than the body unlesse Gules it is a blemish to it but Gules signifying blood addes to it So it is an abatement if it be without tongue teeth or claws The fourth is Verry Argent Azure on a pale Gules three Leopards heads Or by the name of Ockould The fifth is Azure three Leopards heads cooped Or. This Coat is in the Walk under Lincolns Inne Chappel and I think is very rare The sixth is Azure a Cheveron betwixt three Lions he ids erased Ermin crowned Or the Coat-Armor of 〈◊〉 worthy Benefactor of Pauls Sir Paul Pindar The seventh is Sables three Lions tails erased Argent by the name of Cork The eighth is Gules a Cheveron betwixt three Lions paws erected and erased within a bordure Argent in a chief of the second an Eagle displayed Sables by the name of Brown The ninth is Sables two Lions paws one issuing out of the Dexter the other out of the Sinister point of the Escutcheon in
Azure by the Lord Brudenell Of Mechanical things THe last example that I shall insert is of other more ordinary Mechanical things The first is Arg. a Cheveron between three Palmers scrips Sables the tassels and buckles Or by Sir Henry Palmer of Kent The second is Gules a Cheveron between three Irish Broges Or. The third is Sables three Pickaxes Argent by the name of Pigot The fourth is Arg. a fesse between three pheans Sables by the name of Rowdon of Yorkshire The sixth is Sables three bels Arg. by the name of Porter The sixth is Azure three Howboys between as many crosse crosselets Or by the name of Bourden The seventh is Or on a bend Az. three Katherine Wheels Arg. by the name of Rudhall The eighth Az. three levels with their plumets Or by the name of 〈◊〉 The ninth is Arg. three bezants on a chief 〈◊〉 by the name of 〈◊〉 And here we are to take notice that if these roundals are charged in counter-changes as before then they are only called Roundals but if any other 〈◊〉 as in this example they are of a various blazon according to their colors as thus If they are Or then they are called Bezants Argent Plates Sables Pellets Gules Vorteuxes Ligh-tblew Hurts Vert Pomeyes Purpure Golps Teune Oranges Sanguine Gules And thus much I think sufficient to be said of the examples of Charges in Coat-Armor In the next place I am to shew the differences of Helms which distingnish in some part the honor of the bearer in his degree The Crowns and 〈◊〉 differing more particularly the highest degrees of Nobility I shall also exemplifie in the conclusion of this discourse and I hope shall raise in some measure a relation to the old proverb Finis coronat opus Of Helmets THe differences of Helms is always exprest when the Crest is given and by this difference a Gentleman is known in his degree by his hatchment as much as these following examples 〈◊〉 These Helmets are sometimes called cask and timbers by the French Helenum by the Romans Cassidem by the Greeks Galeam a Covering for the head in time of war and our manner of bearing crests on them is from their ancient fancy of adorning their Helmets with some kind of monstrous Device as the Head or mouth of a Lyon the paws or horns of certain beasts to appear more terrible And that which we call Mantle is not as some doe ridiculously suppose the Vestment which they usually had to wear over their atms in War or as some would have it to secure their shield from weather but from this originall that Princes and chief Commanders used to adorn their Helmets according to their qualities with rich buckles studs and circlets of gold garnished with rich and costly stones and on the top or crests of them wreaths of corded 〈◊〉 being the Liveries of their Ladies and Mistrisses as also some curled 〈◊〉 of hair and those Cordons like waving scarfs dangled down behinde them on the Cruppers of their Horses the ends being fairly tasselled and enriched many times with Pearls and precious Stones and thus especially they rid upon dayes of Triumph But in Germany and many other places where the laws of Honour and Armory are severely obsetved a mean Gentleman or new Atchiever is not permitted to bear Helm Mantle or Crest but by special favour The first differs from the 2. in that it is a side standing helmet with the Beaver close which is for all Esquires and Gentlemen The second is the common fashion of Knights which is a helmet standing direct forward with the 〈◊〉 open without guards The third is a side-helmet open-faced guardevisure which is proper for all persons of the Nobility beneath a Duke and above a Knight The fourth is the Helmet of Persons executing Soveraign Authority which is a Helmet which is full forward open-faced guarde-visure which belongeth also to Princes and Dukes In this manner are all Degrees obviously differenced to every mans judgement in all hatchments And if they be above the degree of a Knight that these do not distinguish to particulars then they are also understood by their 〈◊〉 and Crowns Of Crowns and Coronets The first whereof is the Crown of the Empire of Germany which is but little different from that of England in the second which is Emperial too The third is that Coronet of the Prince which is the same with the Kings only the arches mound and crosse wanting The fourth is the Crownet of an Archduke which is the same with a Duke the Arch only added The fifth is a Crownet floral only proper to a Duke The sixth is the Crownet of a Marquesse which differs thus It is of leaves and points the leaves or flowers above the points The seventh is proper to an Earl which hath points and flowers but the points are above the flowers The eighth is due to a Viscount which is a Circulet or Coronet pearled and neither flowers nor points The last is the form of that Crown which is found to be in fashion in the time of William the Conqueror Which I have inserted to shew the difference betwixt the Crown Imperial of England then and now As to the antiquity of these Crowns or Diadems as notes of Regality I finde not any where a just authority to assure me of their Origination but that there were Crowns long before Tragedies were in use is to me very evident though Sir William Segar is of opinion the use of them came from thence Yet that the use of them in these parts of the World might come from the giving of Crowns in Triumph and Lawrels or Wreaths for Vertue is very probable which was a thing very frequent and of very great antiquity among the Romans and hath continued and been exercised in the Empire since the translation to Germany and that with much Ceremony as in the example of Joannes Crusius his receiving the Laurel as Stratsburgh an 1616. See Mr. Selden his Titles of Honor where it is at large fol. 402. Which custom hath since been in these parts and indeed long before that time were Crowns given to Poets here as witnesse the example in St. Mary Overies Church where one John Gower a Poet in Richard the seconds time hath a Statue crowned with Ivie mixed with Roses but since it is more commonly used of Laurel Though the Crown of Laurel or Bayes was first appropriated to him that triumphed for victory in the field At which time distinctions of Crowns were observed according to the variety of merit As Corona Muralis this was due to him that was first seen upon the Wall of the Enemy Corona Castrensis for him that made a breach in the Castle of the Enemy the first a Crown embattail'd or made with battailment being of Gold the other of Towers And then they had Corona Navalis garnished with Fore-castles for service at Sea made of Gold too Then Corona Ovalis of Myrtle for victory gotten