Handbook to English Heraldry

he sentiment unquestionably was his own which Sir Walter Scott made delightful Di Vernon express when, with indignant surprise, she asked Frank Osbaldistone of what his father could have been thinking, that he had been permitted to grow up without any knowledge of Heraldry. Sir Walter was right in his estimate of the high value of Heraldry as an element of education: and, in professing herself a votaress of the Herald's "gentle science," it was quite right in Di Vernon to suggest to other ladies that it would be well for them if Heraldry should find favour in their eyes also. The age of Rob Roy, however, was far from being in harmony with heraldic associations: nor was the author of "Waverley" himself permitted to accomplish more, than to lead the way to that revival of a popular sympathy with every expression of early Art, which now forms one of the most remarkable characteristics of our own era. In the olden time, in England, the love of Heraldry, which was prevalent amongst all classes, was based upon an intelligent appreciation of its worthiness. A part of the feudal system of the Middle Ages, and at once derived from the prevailing form of thought and feeling, and imparting to it a brilliant colouring peculiar to itself, Heraldry exercised a powerful influence upon the manners and habits of the people amongst whom it was in use. By our early ancestors, accordingly, as Mr. Montagu has so happily written, "little given to study of any kind, a knowledge of Heraldry was considered indispensable: " to them it was the "outward sign of the spirit of chivalry, the index, also, to a lengthened chronicle of doughty deeds." And this Heraldry grew up, spontaneously and naturally, out of the circumstances and requirements of those times. It came into existence, because it was needed for practical use; it was accepted and cherished, because it did much more than fulfil its avowed purpose. At first, simply useful to distinguish particular individuals, especially in war and at the tournament, English Heraldry soon became popular; and then, with no less rapidity, it rose to high honour and dignity. From the circumstance that it first found its special use in direct connection with military equipments, knightly exercises, and the mêlée of actual battle, mediæval Heraldry has also been entitled ARMORY. Men wore the ensigns of Heraldry about their persons, embroidered upon the garments that partially covered their armour, -and so they called them Coats-of-Arms: they bore these same ensigns on their shields, -and they called them Shields-of-Arms: and in their Armorial Banners and Pennons they again displayed the very same insignia, floating in the wind high above their heads, from the shafts of their lances.