CHAP. I.

HAving proposed to my self to fix the dig­nity of Coat Armour, Tenne, a Border Go­bonated, Sable and Argent. whereby it might be brought into a rule, so as to distin­guish the goodness of one Coat from another, hitherto not treated of by any Armes, being ordained at the first for or­der sake, wherein Nature it self doth plainly demonstrate, that there is No­bility of kind. I have therefore taken to my self Naturam ducem, intending plainly to demonstrate the principles of Nobility or Noscibilis, remarkable or notable from the essential dignities and rebatements, that by long experi­ence have been discerned to be eminently good or bad bear­ings, [Page 2] either according to the nature of the natural Charge, or Created being, or hapning through the coherence of the Colour, or Metal, Line, or Charge.

Colour upon Colour is false Heraldry, and was palpable even at the first Creation, when darkness was upon the face of the deep: for that was Colour without a Metal;

Metal upon Metal is false Heraldry, because they invade each others dignity, both OR and ARGENT, being of ce­lestial extraction, and in their own Houses have more es­sential dignities then in each others; for then there is a Metal without a Colour.

Now because Heraldry is conversant about the very same things as Nature is (a Gentleman being no other then a Son of the Earth, yet is raised by the same degrees) I shall first propose as our Learned Countreyman in his Glass of Uni­versal Causes hath done, dividing the Field of Nature Actu divino repletae, God having filled the Shield of the Uni­verse (or as we say he beareth the Field Charged) with either Animall, Vegetative, or Mineral Bodies. I shall en­deavour to shew both the rise, increase, and vigour of every bearing, as also the decrease, termination, and fall in its next cause; so that in this Chapter, I shall first shew the Esse Materiale, in the constitution of Colours, and in the next the Esse Formale the disposition of Lines, and then proceed to the Nexus Materiae cum forma.

Dr. Browns Vulgar Er­rour. [The Field is] that is to say, the Colour of the Shield; Colour being nothing else in general, but that under whose gloss and varnish are all things seen, of which no man yet hath beheld [Page 3] the true nature: which while some ascribe to the mixture of the Elements, others to the graduality of opacity and light, they have left our endeavours to grope them out by twilight; nevertheless by those small hints Art becometh helpfull to Nature, so as to preferre one Colour or Field before another: Digby of Bodies, Cap. 29. For if you consider the Colours Elemen­tarily, then the Black or SABLE is to be preferred Propter antiquitatem & fundamentum; but if in the second notion in the graduity of opacity and light, then the Red Colour or GULES being made by a greater proportion of light mingled with darkness, must be preferred before the AZURE or Blew, being mingled with a less proportion of light mingled with darkness, as may be seen by the follow­ing Scheme; and consequently VERT or Green, being com­pounded out of two original Colours, becomes by that mixture the lower degree of Dignity; so that what we understand by the colour of the Shield or Field, is nothing else then the power that that body hath of reflecting light unto the Eye in a certain order and position, being the very superficies of it; and the reason why no Coat of Arms can be said to be good without Metal, is because Light of all all things in the World is the most powerfull Agent upon our Eye, either by it self, or what cometh in with it; Digby of Bodies. Boyls Ex­perimen. for where Light is not, Darkness is, all agreeing that Co­lours are inherent and real Qualities, Light doth but dis­close, and not concur to produce. White things are gene­rally cold and dry, and are therefore by Nature ordained to be receptacles and conservers of heat and moisture, as Physicians note; and so naturally the Fire or heat flies upper­most, and is above the Aire, that having a degree of moi­sture more then it: Contrariwise Black, and Green, which is near of Kin to Black, are growing Colours, and are the Dye of heat incorporated in abundance of wet. The Chy­mists, (those Spiritual Heraulds) do deliver, that the Salt of natural Bodies doth carry a powerfull stroke in the Tinctures and Varnish of all things, yielding delectable and [Page 4] various Colours; and as Nature is ingenious and subtile in all her operations, so she hath left an Art endowed with the like subtilty and industry; for Heraulds after the ex­ample of Chymists, finding that nothing can display its own virtue, untill the confusion of the excrements and impuri­ties be throughout banished, have made choice as it were (after the example of Nature) of Water and Fire her Coadjutors in the Generation of Metals, which are so much the more perfect, as they have been better mundified and digested in the stomack of the Earth. Hence it is that OR and ARGENT is preferred among Metals, and GULES, AZURE, and SABLE among the Colours, the others of VERT and PURPURE being mixed, and so of less digni­ty: So that you see that Colour is nothing else but Light mingled with Darkness, which ingeniously they have de­clared by rational Lines obumbrating as it were the Field; which Lines I therefore call rational, because Natura ef­fectum suum attingit Lineis rectis iisque brevissimis, and therefore the most plain Coat is the most honourable: and be­cause Color & Lux sub eodem sunt genere, ergo apta sunt in se agere, as you shall plainly perceive by this Scheme of Co­lours, described by Kercher in his Ars Magna, lib. 1. cap. 2. and Analogized, wherein the prime Original Colours are op­posed by the mixed.

[Page 5]

• ARGENT
• SABLE
• CINERIVS
• VERT
• FVSCVS
• INCARNATVS
• OR AVREVS
• PVRPVRE PVRPVREVS
• SVBRVBEVS
• SVBAIBVM
• SVBCAERVIEVM

• ALBUS
  • Lux pura
  • Lux
  • Dulce
  • Ignis
  • Pueritia
  • Intellectus
  • Deus

• FLAVUS
  • Lux tincta
  • Umbra tenuissima
  • Dulce temperatum
  • Aer vel Aether
  • Adolescentia
  • Opinio
  • Angelus

• RUBEUS
  • Lux colorata
  • Umbra moderata
  • [...]
  • Aurorae medium
  • Juventus
  • Error

    [figure]

  • Homo

• CAERULEUS
  • Umbra
  • Umbra densa
  • Acidum
  • Aqua
  • Virilitas
  • Pertinacia

    [figure]

  • Brutum

• NIGER
  • Tenebrae
  • Tenebrae
  • Amarum
  • Terra
  • Senectus

    [figure]

  • Ignorantia
  • Planta.

Though Black be in the last place, yet because it is the foundation of Matter, it is accounted Honourable; and ac­cording to the Stoical Principle of the beginning of the World, by reason it doth proceed as it were from the Hyle or confused matter, it is accounted but the base point, with­out being joyned with Metal, so that every Colour without Metal is Essence without Quality, and Quality is more or less noble accordingly.

This Analogical Table constituting as it were a Lable of five Points, the usual note of the Eldest House, while the Grandfather is living, born over the whole Field. The Field Corpus luminosum est a quo utcunque lumen profunditur, or the ground on which every line is drawn or thing born: The first [Page 6]

[blazon of arms]

is the Light, Argent plain. and in this Art is called Argent. It is expressed immaculatum, unspotted, be­cause it consisteth of very much Light, and it is laudable, because it is the Messenger of Peace; and deserves the first place, be­cause Lumen Qualitatum omnium prima & nobil ssima. It is called in Hebrew by a name that signifieth to desire; it simply signifieth the everlasting charity of the Almighty; and in moral Virtues Piety, Virginity, clear Conscience and Charity; with Gules, boldness in all honesty; with Azure, couragious and discreet; with Sable, wholly studious in the contemplation of Divine things, yielding up all pleasure; with Green, virtuous in youth; with Purple, Judicature with Magistracy by the favour of the people. It is preferred among Persons eminent for purity, Quia color albus praecipue decorus Deo est, Raleigh's History of the World. God being acknow­ledged by the wisest men to be a Light by abundant Clarity, invisible, an Understanding which it self onely can compre­hend; Deus est amictus lumine sicut vestimento. They that bare Argent among the Greeks were called Argyrasp [...]des; and those that bare Or Chrysorspides; the Gold being tinctured with Red and Yellow, participating both of heat and light in an extraor­dinary manner, was therefore accounted the most noble Me­tal lying next the Light, by which Occultum fit manifestum.

OR, pow­dered.

[blazon of arms]

Or is described by several Points, Pricks, or Atoms, to shew there is no perfection be­neath the Skies; for as one saith, It was the silly fondness of Mankind, which made guilded and misled Errour more prudential­ly usefull in the world, then sober and na­ked Truth. White is debased, as you may perceive, when it is tinctured with Yellow, making the Subalbum; and mixed with Red, makes the Car­nation; with Blew, it composeth the Ash Colour; and being in direct opposition to Black, is most fair: nevertheless the Esteem that Gold hath gained, is for its more perfect dige­stion. [Page 7] Sermo Dei (saith David) purgatissimus est, Psal. 18.31. & clypeus om­nibus, qui se recipiunt ad eum. And as Pliny defines Clypeus to be a part of the Ecliptick, so called from being chafed or en­graven: it is a fit bearing for dignified persons; in God it signifies Illum regnare Majestate indutum & celsitudine; Psal. 93.1. He being cloathed with Majesty and Might, of it self it beto­kens Wisdome, Justice, Riches, and Elevation of mind, and joyned with Gules, to spend our blood for the riches and welfare of his Countrey. Joyned with Azure, to be worthy matters of Trust and Treasure. With Sable, most rich, constant in every thing. With Vert most glittering, and splendid in youth. And joyned with Purpure, it beto­kens Magnificence. You may perceive in composition it ma­keth a kind of Fuscus or Smoke Colour, and so is debased. But having spoke of Metals, it now remains that I speak of Colours which are known also by their tincture: Mens agitat molem, Metal and Colour make a perfect Coat-armour; Boyl's Ex­perimen. and Co­lour is a modification of Light. Now, Omnis color mundi dici­turnobilior vel inferior duobus modis, vel secundum se, aut secun­dum quod magis participat de albedine vel minus; and in order

[blazon of arms]

next is the Gules lying in the central point or point of Honour, Gules, paly. between the light and darkness; and because it representeth the fire, it is signified by Lines drawn Palewayes or upright, the fire being the Esse formale, or Vitae actus, flying upward, being aire ex­alted by agitation; as when Vulcan blew the Coals to form the Shield for Ulys­ses.

It is the Note of Power, Constitue rem in sua claritate, & [Page 8] restitue figmentum in suum locum: and presents magnanimity; it is debased by being mingled with Azure, and so produceth the Purple, and with Black the Subrubeus, and it is exalted by the Martial Man. The Azure being preferred among Eccle­siastical Persons, as one saith, Multum convenit Episcopis & caeteris viris Ecclesiasticis, being fit for contemplative Per­sons, Quia per ipsum representatur nobilis Aer.

Azure, bar­ry.

[blazon of arms]

AZURE is distinguished by right lines drawn barwise or Horizontal, by reason that line represents the upper face of the Water, wherein darkness was upon the face of the deep, yet lying in position higher then the deep, representing the Lap of Nature, and is called caeruleus, quasi caeluleus.

If it be mingled with Yellow, it constitutes the Green, and is debased by mixing with Black, causing the Subcaeruleum; and though the Sable claim antiquity; yet I shall not presume to determine whether it were before the White, seeing the Kingly Prophet saith, Psal. 18.12. Job 22.12. Splendore ejus praesentiae, nubes & aquae tenebrosae fugerunt: and the Prophetical King saith, Densae nubes sunt latibulum ei. Neither whether it may be said to be a Colour, though it is preferred among Monastical Persons.

[blazon of arms]

Omnis privatio est tenebrae, saith the Philoso­pher. Sable, checky SABLE they expressed by Lines cros­sing one another at right Angles, whereby Nature seemed chequer'd, begetting the Cor­pus, the Body, the Nexus Materiae cum forma by this manner of Bearing, denoting the Omniscience of the Almighty, Nox ei ut di­es perlustrat, & tenebrae ut ipsa lux; seeing he brought light out of darkness. It signifies Fortitude, Antiquity, Constancy and Immutability.

Erat umbra infinita in excelso. Coelus and Vesta having yet no Issue, Truth being yet in the cave of Time, till old Time fetch'd her forth: Black is the Colour of Wisdome, hid­den counsel, Densae nubes sunt latibulum ei, Job 22.12. White represents Eternity, a parte Ante, and Black Time a parte Post; 'Tis preferred because of its direct Opposition to Light, Um­bra prima est absent [...]a primi luminis. And when the Creatout

[blazon of arms]

was pleased to stir up both to an actual heat, it produced VERT the Colour of Love and Generation; Vert, Bendy Dexter. it is composed of Yellow and Blue, as you may see by the Scheme, and in Lines is described Bendy towards the right hand, because it is according to the motion of the Aire. Job 38. Lux aurea venit ab A­qu [...]lone, the right hand way being that of Virtue, meeting in the midst of the former figure, constitu­ting Pythagoras his Y, in Moral Virtues: it signifieth tempo­rance mirth, youth and gladness.

This way tending to Generation is called Bendy Dexter, when that on the left hand tending to Corruption becomes the Colour of Mourning, as the same Poet notes,

The Green is the sacred Colour among the Turks, who ex­pect carnal delights in green Fields; it is much affected by young persons, because ‘ [Page 10]Pallent omnis amans, & hic est Color aptus amanti.’

Of it self it signifies Bountifulness in God, Spiritus Jehovae implet orbem terrarum. It hath its Exaltation by participating of Gold, becoming thereby most glittering, representing that felicity which the Heroes enjoy in the Elysian fields, at whose entrance Aenaeas fixed his golden Branch.

Purple being of a magisterial Dignity and Honour, yet co­ming so near to Mourning, that it is not esteemed in the Shields of the Nobles, it being a Colour of an ill Omen; as Aeneas is said to cover the body of Mysenus with

Which ever since hath been the Mourning for Kings. Where the Field is Metal, it is as the Light; and where it is Colour, it is as the Splendour; the one as the first Light, and the other as the second. And what is expressed by these Co­lours and Metals, is nothing else then to strive to excell in Vir­tue; the Argent Piety, the Or Justice, the Gules Magnanimity, the Azure Prudence, the Vert Temperance, the Black Forti­tude, the Purpure having Sparks of Magnificence, hath a tincture of all the Elementary Parts of the world, of Spirit, Fire, Aire, Water and Earth, understood severally under the names of Jupiter, Vulcan, Minerva, Oceanus and Ceres.

[Page 11]

[blazon of arms]

Purple or PURPURE was described by Lives drawn from the left hand, Purpure Bendy Sini­ster. as tending towards Corruption; and this way is called Bendy Sinister. And thus God hath made all things double, there are two and two one against another: these last lines crossing one another in the Centre, represents the Animal Spirit of the World. According to Plato, the Agy­ptians by the Letter X signifie the same thing, that is Processus animae mundi. And these are the ordinary wayes of all Separa­tions, which kind of Seqarations do aime at no other Mark in Coats of Arms, then to sequester as it were the pure Sub­stance (the Gentleman) from the corrupt excrements of the Vulgar, that men should be distinguished by certain Marks of Honour and Virtue, and so to stir them up to the Imitation of Virtue, and raise them from the lumpish and heavy Metal'd terrestrious thickness to a more ingenious pureness & by this means come to the excellency of those their Ancestours; for it is the property of Nature, Quicquid genuit in suo genere perfectum esse voluit.

The Agatho-Demon was that letter by which the Aegyptians did signifie Bonus Ager, & was the same from which the Greeks borrowed Δ which was that space of ground in the field that was taken in, when the bird Ibis stepped along, the legs ex­tended, meeting in the twist, formed a Triangle, whence was the advice of a Catholick Writer, Pone Delta ante oculos tuos, ut bene sit animae tuae, that is, Set the Fields of your Ance­stours before you, to excite you to the imitation of their di­vine [Page 12] Virtue, mark their steps. The Field being the Orus the Pa­sture or the Grass to maintain and nourish the man at Arms to forage in; and though being without a Charge, it hath Vi­tae Pabulum; yet consisting of Metal and Colour, it maketh a perfect good Coat, the Metal being the Spiritus or Mercury, and the Colour being the Genus generalissimum, the general and common Genus of all the Genera, comprehended under several names, as followeth.

• ARGENT
  • Argenteum.
  • Candidum.
• OR
  • Luteum,
  • Croceum,
  • Flavum,
  • Galbineum,
  • Fulvum,
  • Aureum.
• AZURE
  • Cyaneum,
  • Caeruleum,
  • Glaucum,
  • Caesium.
• VERT
  • Viride,
  • Pransinum,
  • Chelidonium,
  • Smanagdinum.
• GULES
  • Rubeum,
  • Puniceum,
  • Coccineum,
  • Conciliatum,
  • Ostrium,
  • Mineo,
  • Tyrium,
  • Roseum,
  • Blatteum,
  • Purpureum.
• SABLE
  • Nigrum,
  • Furvum,
  • Pullum,
  • Atrum,
  • Sabulum.
• PURPURE
  • Jacinthinum,
  • Violateum,
  • Molochinum,
  • Ferrugineum.

So that Colour is the Genus, and is Notio ad plures differen­tias pertinens, and all these words among the Latines do but declare a different tincture of the same original Colours; wherein the Salts, the Colours of Bodies are sensibly qualified, and receive Degrees of Lustre or Obscurity, D [...]. Brown and is dispersed both in Animal, Vegetal, and Mineral Bodies, all which He­ralary [Page 13] is conversant about, & takes there three sorts of Blazon; that of Planets from the first, the Blazon of Colours from the Ve­getative, and by Precious Stones from the Mineral: So that Blazon is no other then apt Phrases to signifie powerfull Na­ture, arming Mercury with wings, to shew his readiness and volatile Nature, by which he mounteth to Heaven, and after descends to acquire and obtain the virtue of things both supe­riour and inferiour, qualifying every Bearing answerable to the Bearers:

So that to be full of Charge, is to be empty of Honour; for that which is to be a Sign or an Armorial Mark to a Man, ought to be very conspicuous, and easie to be discerned, which is im­possible without Light, and where it is clogged with fulness. So that the plain Coat is accounted best, Quia potest in loco distantiori & remotiori perspici & videri. Now there was three wayes of propagating knowledge; by representative Symbols, by Speech, and by Letters, which three wayes are made use of in this Heroical Science, Arms being nothing else but the Symbolical way of knowledge by Colours, and Blazon, apt expressions by Speech, and the third way by Let­ters. As by O, we understand OR, which is the Colour of the Sun, the Symbole being the same among the Aegyptians, and was called Mundi Dominus. By A we understand Argent, id est, Bonus Daemon, this Letter representing the Wings of Divine Love, opened downward: by G we understand GULES, or Red, Gamma among the Aegyptians signifying a Rule to measure the uprightness of all our Actions, the Co­lour gules being drawn upright, By B, we understand Azure, the Letter Beta being taken from the form of a Rams head, i. e. foecunditas, the Colour of Jupiter, whom the Aegyptians called Amun.

By ν we understand Vert or Green, the γ Ypsilon signifying Processus inferiorum ad superiora. By S or Σ we understand Sable, the figure whereof turning as well towards Generati­on as Corruption, as the Black Colour tends, and so it is said to be ☽ Lunae Symbolum, Sigma dicitur Visio. By Ρ or Π Ρy we understand Purpure, the form of which Letter is taken from that grapling iron by which the Aegyptians drew the bo­dy of Osiris out of the water, when it was covered over with the Purple pa [...]l of Corruption. The Hebrews call their Let­ter Elements, quasi Hylementa, hoc est, Characteres formales in Hylae seu principii deformis atque tetri superf [...]cie materiali Spiritu Dei aeterni conditor is igneo delineati; and indeed as Galileus saith, Admirandarum omnium inventionum humana­rum Signaculum, it is the chiefest of all humane inventions. The Jews attribute the invention of their Letters to Moses, the Agyptians to Thoyt or Mercury, Origines Sacrae, l. 1. the Graecians to Cadmus, the Phaenicians to Taautus, the Latines to Saturn, others to the A [...]thiopians; and least the Pigmies should be without, some think they were found out a gruum volatu, from the flying of Cranes. It being very manifest, that the Greek Let­ters were translated by Cadmus out of Agypt into Greece, Kercher. by reason of the great correspondence there is between their Characters, the first column in this Scheme being made from the form of Beasts, the second being the vulgar Letters, and the third being the Affinity of the Greek Letters with the Aegyptian. Ζ Zeta dicitur, id est, Vita, drawn from the fi­gure of a Serpent Erect. Θ Theta dicitur, id est Litera Thoth, made in the form of a Serpent creeping round the Globe. Φ Phi; id est amor, made after the form of Pyramids incorpora­ted. Μ Mi Aquae Litera est, and is made waved. [...] XI, id [Page 15]

[Page 16] est, Catena, and signifies Succession, which to be broke signifi­eth Ruine. Again, N Litera idem est ac processus rerum Ele­mentarium, sive vegetabilium processus. O was the Character of the Sun, as Σ was that of the Moon; the T being the same as Tau among the Hebrews. Letters in Arms signifying men of much Judgement, the Arms of Toft being a Cheveron be­tween three Text Tees, perhaps no otherwise then that of Thoth to signifie his Name and Quality, the Alphabet of the Hebrews ending with the Letter Tau, signifying full Perfection, it is advanced in chief in the Coat of Drury. In the holy Tongue it signifieth a Mark, and three of them are borne by the Name of Grymes, Nullis praesentior aether. It is a special Note of Gods Favour, Apud Ae­gyptios singulae Litetae sin­gulis ver­bis servie­bunt. and an especial Ensign in the Coat of Talke of Sussex, who beareth the same Cross, with three Crowns of Thorn, in chief denoting therein Compassi ut conregnabimu [...], and the whole Alphabet doth afford fit Bearings for the Judi­cious and Learned; and among Military Signes Letters were Notes of their Order, as H, Hastatorum, P, Principium, T, Tria­riorum. And among the Hebrews, Hermanus Hugo de Origine Scribend. Aleph signifieth a prince; Beth, id est, Domus; Gimel, id est, Camelus; Daleth, id est, Porta, Zain, as Zen, id est, Arma; He and Teth and Cheth being so denominated from their sound, Jod, Manus, as Caninus; Caph Palmam interpretat. Lamed, id est, Stimulo; Mem, Macula, and Nun, Piscem interpretatur; Samech, Basis, as Caninus saith; A [...]jn, Fons; Pe, Os seu vultus; Tsade, Hamus; Coph, Simi­um; Resch, quasi Ros, that is a Head; Schin, quasi Scen, id est, Deus. Letters being the first Signes of Bodies, Bodies be­ing the first Ensignes of Spirits, by which outward Signes the minds of men became understood, Signature being the onely universal Character, and Colour the Paper on which they are written; and because Lucis proprium est Color, ejus (que) perpe­tuus comes, cui cum nulla sit Materia, neque Colori erit. There­fore the Field of Metal, as it representeth Light, is to be pre­ferred before that of Colour, because that every man is to preferre his own Countrey as the Common Good; never­theless [Page 17] as the Metal is the Spirit, without which the Shield i [...] as a dead Letter. Where it is superiour on the Field, it hath an Exaltation, because that Light overcame Darkness; and whereever there is an Exaltation, we shall allow our Dignity more then its proper place: hence it is that Metal is named before Colour, Argent and Sable being most Fair, Or and Sa­ble most Rich, Or and Vert most Glittering, and are preferred when they come nearest to the Unity of Matter in the perfect things of the Creation, every thing having a nobility of Colour, or when or where they come nearest to the Unity of Form, as to bear things uniform and conspicuous by Metal: now if you look back to the Scheme of Colours, in this Chapter you shall find that we allow the first and chief Place to the Argent or Unity as the Form, Why Metal upon M [...]tal is false He­ [...]aldry. and the next to the OR corporeal Matter being understood by the number two: but because both Metals are allowed, in Arms we will admit them to be both Unites, the one of the Form, and the other of the Mat­ter: now as from one issueth two, so from the first an Aethereal Metal Argent issueth, OR making two Unites; and if you take one of those Unites for the Beginning, and another for the Middle, then there wants an end, making Me­tal upon Metal. Again, if you put a Unite in the Beginning, and another for the End, then you have rwo Extremes, but no Mean or Middle; for seeing Gules is the first Unity of Co­lours, and Azure next this is imperfect also, because then 'tis Colour upon Colour. Again, if you place one Unite for a Mean, and the other for the End, here also is imperfection, because it wants a Beginning. The formal fountain of Light begins with God, and terminates with Man, who is in the Sphere of Equality, or Honour Point in the mid Heaven, viz. Gules penetrating to the Centre of the Earth or Abyss, whose Basis is in the Earth, or Centre of Darkness, whereby Black and White become most ancient, and I have set all down from the Square of three, by adding one, which in all is ten Chapters, beyond the which, as Aristotle affirmeth, no man hath found out any number: this first is of Colours, which [Page 18] in consideration of the Painters Art is no incroachment in me to write of, in which you may principally observe with the Honourable Robert Boyle, Boyl's Ex­periments. that there are but few Simple and Primary Colours, from whose various Compositions all the rest do as it were result, being sufficient to exhibit a vari­ety and number of Colours. Such as those that are altogether strangers to the Painters pallets, can hardly imagine.

Thus (for instance) Black and White differingly mix'd make a vast company of Darker Grayes.

Blue and Yellow make a huge variety of Greens.

Red and Yellow make Orange Tawny.

Red with a little White makes a Carnation.

Red with an Eye of Blue make a Purple; and as by these simple Compositions again compounded among themselves, the skilfull Painter can compound a great many more then there are yet names for: so by the Composition of Colour and Metal Lines and Charges are produced infinite variety of Arms, the Corpuscles whereof they consist must be such as do not destroy one anothers Texture, but remains as plain as may be. Tin calcin'd by fire affords a White, and Lead cal­cin'd a Red, and Copper a very Black or dark Powder, and Iron may be by the action of reverberated flames be turned into a Colour almost like that of Saffron. Gold is preferred before all Metals, being the Symbole of Peace, which nou­risheth Love, Sands Co­ment. Me­ [...]am. l. 1. and Lead of Poverty, which starves it.

[blazon of arms]

Perfect Coat Armour you see must consist of a Colour and a Metal, which meeting in the Centre is called Gyrony, the Spirit of the World moving after this manner of Figure. It is called a Gyron, because it representeth a Thigh, wherein is supposed the Seminal Vir­tue; besides it consists of a right Angle, con­stituted by the numbers of 3, 4, and 5. found out by Pythagoras, the Centre-point being the Radix or Root, or the Virtual Point, the Middle Point in Heraldry be­ing called the Honour Point; and therefore the Man at Arms [Page 19] as Vigetius testifieth, was instructed not to make his Blows either down-right, or Tranc, because that kind of Blow was not mortal, but rather to make a thrust at the Middle Point, where the Vital Power is assembled: and for this cause some learned Men affirm the middle of the earth to be the most pre­cious part of the whole, because all the Celestial Virtues are there united, and can pass no further, which being so assem­bled and united, are of infinite Power, because their influence to that place is continual; and because they proceed and flow from Bodies which in Virtues are infinite, Meaning of plain Lines. this manner of Shield representing the four sorts of Blows, dealed upon the Shield of Nature, and being received upon the Shields of Warriours, was accordingly painted, as their Cognizance; and being Metal hath a resemblance to the fire, it hath the first place allotted in Blazon.

[blazon of arms]

A Canton is a part of a whole Field laid out as a reward to Military Persons, and a Border is a Fence to that which a man counts his own. Hence it is that even these dead things of Tincture and Difference do excite the Bearers thereof to Courage. In the Ele­venth Book of the Code there is a Title De Fundis Limitrophis, of Border-Ground, which some refer to Constantine the Great, who Enacted for the be­nefit of his Souldiers, That such Lordships and Lands as be­fore time they had their wages out of, should pass over unto their Heirs, and be appropriate to their Family or Stock. So that they found and maintained continually a certain number [Page 20] of Souldiers Borders, therefore are proper Military Bear­ings, although among the French they are used as Differences for younger Brothers; and the ancient Bordred Grounds of the Romans was a portion laid out to their Souldiers. Now assoon as the Metal began to be stirred up, Lustrans universa in circuitu pergit Spiritus, saith the Wise Mans Ecles. 1. The first enlightening of the Shield being by Border, which drove the dark Clouds into the Middle, Splendor ejus prae­sentiae nubes & aquae tenebr [...]sae fugerunt, Light did proceed from the Canton, in which are usually given augmenta­tion of Honour, Shields of themselves signifying Protection and Borders, vivification or quickning; the indented Border makes both a Sun and a Shield, and so signifies Divine Pre­sence, and so the Shield Ornat & Armat. But because the Light did as it were cut the Darkness, and was still succeed­ed by the Darkness, and so became mixed with all Matter; therefore the Gobbonated Border is accounted as a spurious difference, in Heraldry usually assigned to a Bastard.

In our Disquisition into the formal Causes of any thing, the knowledge of the nature of Colours is necessary to com­pleat the science, in which sense Colour is as much formal as the Line which distinguisheth the Form, and Matter as it ari­seth from Unity, is said to have Magnitude, and Magnitude is no other then that which ariseth from a Point which is said to have no parts, and in Greek is called [...], i. e. Signum, a Sign externally made to signifie that which is conceived in the mind, being the same as Unity in Number, an Instant in Time, or a Sound in Musick; and Armorial Marks so much in use with us at this Day, are called Insignia, under which word is comprised all Signs, Marks and Tokens of Honour, being externally made to signifie that which was conceived in the mind of the Bearer; and that I may proceed to this ARMILOGIA, or universal Signature, which hath been found imprinted in the minds of all Nations (declaring there­by the Nobility of the minds of men, who aim in these Noti­o [...]s to be immortallized; I shall next shew the Ratio Formal is [Page 21] of every good Coat, according as it is bounded by Lines; for the Form is evidently distinguished by Division, Division be­ing an eminent Property of Matter; now because it is most agreeable to Reason, that Names should carry in them a suita­bleness to the things they express, I shall endeavour all along briefly to shew also the Dignity of every Bearing usually born, complicating and twisting in the apt Mottoes of the Ab­bot of Pichinelli, in his Mondo Symbolico, serving to express the nature of every thing by way of Rebus.

Every Coat of Arms as a Sign of Honour is to be conside­red in a two-fold Notion, either Military or Civil, because that Reason willeth, and Equity ordaineth, that men having done good service for their Prince or Countrey, either in war or peace, should be distinguished from the Vulgar; and these distinctions in the first Notion is properly called ARMES, and in the second a COAT, though indeed it is called a Coat properly from being worn over the Arms of the Commander in Chief, and Arms from being worn on his Shield, by which he did Arm and defend himself. Mars and Arms being an agrammatically one, that by these signs he might be known in Battail, by those that were under him, and knew his bear­ing, and so the more plain this was, the more conspicuous also it was, whereby his men were not so apt to incur a dan­ger by mistakes, Reason why plain Arms are best from the use. which the overcharging of the Coat might cause, by reason of its confounding their sight. And because the Shield of Achilles, was intended as a pattern to all other, I shall propose it as t is blazoned by Homer; but first framed by Vulcan, at the intercession of Thetis for her Son.

[Page 22] Vulcan having framed a perfect Shield, Homer first blazon [...] by Mettall.

Moses representing the Shield of the Creation in three termes, saith, Tenebra super faciem abyssi fuerunt, darkness, face, and deep, answerable to which, the Antients did repre­sent the Earth by a Cubicall Body, on which as an Anvill, all other things were framed, hoc est tesseram. Octo augul rum, et Sex Laterum terram significare tradidit Plato, by which figure, was represented the Harmony of the whole Sphere, having six plain Faces, or Superficies twelve lines: Eight solid Angles, and 24 plain, out of which did arise these proportions, 6 to 12 Duplum or Diapason, 6 to, 8 Sesqui altrum, or Diapente, 12 to 8. Sesquitertiam diatessaron 8 ad 24. Triplam Diapason Dia­pente, 6 ad 24 Dupla diapente, the Shield being first made after a square form, to denote immobility and constancy, signified by Checkie, Sa and Argent, quem deus fundavit super bases

[blazon of arms]

suas ne demoveretur in seculum. So much for the Figure, the faces of the Cube com­pounding the first Honourable Ordinary, vide, the plain Cross being the exact middle point, called the Honour point, Pro­pter fundamentum, as I noted before B the exact middle chief, A the dexter chief point, O the sinister chief point, V the exact middle bass, G surmounting the chief, the dexter and sinister base being without the limits of the Cross, become more debased, and so are less in Dignity: which eight points answers to the eight solid Angles of the Cube, as the 6 Quadralaterial sides, represent the faces of the same: the first visible Coat being Checkered, though the internal Coat was Gyrony, and proceeded from the Center, and so constituted 24 plain Angles still answer­ng [Page 23] its first proportion, and these 6 faces became the constant and firm matter or field for every good Coat, and while it stood without a charge, 'tis alluded to by Ovid.

The Vestal or Virgin fire being nothing else then that pure light, without which there was no colour, Heaven, Earth, Water, and darkness appearing in an instant, Holy Histo­ry. as the Field on which all the effects of a most amorous and sage prodigality were to be displayed; and this heap of Water and Earth was the Object of him who alone was able to chase away its sha­dows, and convert its dust into Gold and Chrystal; for as Bricks take their Original from Clay, so doth Nobility from mean Extraction: Tin and Brass are Mettals of Alloy, while the Golden Shield-bearer is the Heroical Person, as the same Poet notes in the discription of the same Shield.

For though Honour is the reward of Vertue, yet the Me­chanick may not vie with the Eldest Son of Honour for his Atchievement; it is not only the Shield but the Adorn­ment of the same, that Thetis craved, and Vulcan wished to accomplish, so as to preserve his Honour from base Ob­livion.

By what you may observe in the former lines, it is plain, [Page 24] that the first Rule of Blazon, is to name the Field first, and then to observe the points of the Escoutcheon, whether de­xter or sinister.

Next observe to name the partisians and charge.

Which brings me to the form or Division by line.

CHAP. II.

IN the dividing the Field, it makes it more fruitful; SAUCIATA FE­RACIOR; Sanguine a Border com­pony, Ar­gent and Sa. though the first Shield was plain NON SEMPER INUTILIS is the benefit of Education.

By the Esse formale, I understand the manner of Bounding by lines, which lines are either streight or curved, and are pro­perly reducible to the Elements; for the first operation of the Elements is Division, Digby. from whence proceedeth locall Motion; and those Coats that are further removed from their Simplicities, fall into more perplexed Considerations, and so require a subtiler Act of Reason to distinguish and call forth their Natures; and thus though a man understood the general Nature of Colours, Vulgar Er. l. 6. c. 10. yet were it no easie Problem to resolve why Grass is Green; and though I pretend to teach the Language of Arms, yet you must know, that this, as many things in Nature, cannot speak, which yet have a mighty perswasion in their Nature: Silver is silent and speechless, yet a potent Oratour; it cannot move it self, yet how doth it

[blazon of arms]

move passions in the minds of men. As you may observe in this Coat of Boyle, wheree the Cre [...]ele Line signifies the very Battle­ments of Heaven, or 12. Houses of the same, and running curved thus from the dexter Chief to the sinister Base, did signifie men of power, and speedy execution, the Lightning of Jupiter proceeding from that Angle.

[Page 26]Among the Agyptians, how much did they understand by Form? They observed eight and forty Constellations, whereof four and twenty were placed in the Southern Hemisphere, which as Plutarch testifieth, they called Urnam lucis, Osiridis regnum, dextrum mundi latus, salubre beneficium: and as many on the Northern part, which they count the left side of the world, Malignum, venisicum, foemininum, tenebrarum originem, which according to Zoroaster, is described by several Lines Py­ramidically ascending and descending, intermixing a Colour and Metal together. Lucan having prepared a Field for the Spirit of Pompey, shews,

Where SABLE aire doth kiss the star-bearing skies.

Forma est Notio, cujus differentia ad caput generis, & quasi

[blazon of arms]

fontem referri potest. The first line lay along, and was the Partition per fess, girting the world, and separating the upper from the nether Hemisphere, by which Line was understood the Horizon, and Limiter of the Sight, Regnum Osiridis; it representeth the prima Materia, having a potentiality tam ad aliquid, tam ad nihil, as wel to be depressed, as to be lift up. Party per Bend. Upon a Shield it signifieth a Cut received,

[blazon of arms]

while the next Line which was per Bend Dexter represented a Slash, & in the world it represented the Axis. And this was a­mong the A gyptians Salubre beneficium; for the benefits of the gods bestowed as they were from the right hand, they pro­ceeded to us from that Angle as was against our left hand; Cujus pars suprema est Polus Articus seu Borealis, vel Aquilo, qui in altum versus coelo­rum cacumen sublimatur; ejus vero terminus oppositus est, quasi Polus Antarcticus seu Australis, qui versus profundum terrae de­primitur. According to which Job 26.7. Aquilonem extendit Deus in altum super inane & vacuum, hoc est, Party per Bend, by that Position denoting Power.

[Page 27]The uptight Line called Parted, or Party per Pale, was a

[blazon of arms]

down-right Blow, Party per Pale. and by this Line they understood the Meridian, or Line of Mid­day, being a Circle passing from North to South; the Aegyptians counted the right hand toward the North, the Astronomers looked toward the South, the Divine to­ward the East, and the Poet toward the West, according to these Verses;

Per Pale is the Line of Justice, balancing as it were the world, whereas to decline to the left hand was malignum ve­nificum

[blazon of arms]

seminum tenebrarum originem, Party per Bend Sini­ster. which is the Reason that the Bend sinister is accounted spurious and base; albeit it is not so, except it be Humit and cut off, for then it hindreth Succession; by the cutting of the Line it is called per Bend sinister; and while it is whole, dividing the Shield in two equal parts, it representeth the Ae­quator, making the Days and Nights equal, being at right Angles with the Pol s: but by reason of its Position, incli­ning to fall down into its first Matter, it is not accounted so Honourable. It denoteth Condescention.

[blazon of arms]

Again, if these Lines cross at right Angles, Party per Cross. making Quarterly, then it hath reference to the four Cardinal Points of East, West, North or South, the name of Adam being comprehended among the Greeks in Anatole, Dysis, Arctos, Mesembria; and in moral Vir­tues those that are Cardinal, according to the Analogy of the Metal and Colour, these Lines signifying Reason not at all prevaricated; but when they [Page 28] crossed at oblique Angles it signified his Fall, and then repre­sented a Thigh, because then man was fain to enter into Co­venant,

[blazon of arms]

which was done by putting the hand under the Thigh: and this denoteth the Composition of Man, according to Elemen­tary Qualities, whereby he was more apt to rise, Party per Saltire. and is called Party per Saltire. And thus the right Line had the preheminence over the other, because it signified no commotion or disturbed passions of the soul, moving in a right Line; Sursum aut deorsum ascendere, vel descendere, in Dextram aut in Levam ferri; and where they met in a right

[blazon of arms]

Angle, Party per Cheveron. Sable and Argent. it made the Division of parted Per­cheveron, which was Division by Rule, as it were Norma, having the right Angle in the Honour Point, constituting the Geometrical Square, the Wise Creatour having made e­very thing in Number, Weight and Mea­sure; and where the Escutcheon comes to be otherwise divided, though it debase the Coat, yet it honoureth the Bearer, by becoming Distinct. Bearing, it represents one that levels at just Actions, and all parted Fields represent a Diaphanous Body, letting the Light of the Field pass through, Umbrae tamen & Lucis aeque receptivum. This Bearing signifieth Experience.

Per Fesse and per Bend.

[blazon of arms]

When A Coat is parted per Fess and per Bend counterchanged, it followeth the very Order of Nature; for it is an Axiom, Natu­ra quod alibi tollit, alibi restituit. And there­fore if a man have received either of these four Sorts of Blows, vid. Cut, Slashed, Part­ed or Tranch upon his Shield, or have won it from his Enemy in the field, it is called an Atchievement.

These Lines again are more or less Noble, according to the agitation or activity of the Spirit thereof; and if accord­ing [Page 29] to Thales and the wisest Philosophers, Aquam esse primam rerum materiam, The first Division that was made by the Elements, the next after the plain Line, whose Dignity (RE­CTA DIFFUNDITUR) is that of the Water, which indeed is Congregatio aquarum in locum suum, whereby the fluid Matter runs Barwise or Bendwise.

[blazon of arms]

It is called UNDY, Barry undy. and it representeth one whose virtue is excited up by a word of Command, or by Example;

Servius saith, That on the Grecians Shields Neptune was fi­gured, and on the Trojans, Minerva, they being called Cecro­pidae true Trojans that were of the ancient Blood, who being led by the Queen of Martials, feared not to meet their enemies the Graecians, Minerva.

And a little after the Greeks having received the Alarum;

[Page 30]Wherein is excellently described the Cavalry and Infantry, dealing indented Lines on the Shields of the Opposers, de­scribed on the warlike City;

Wherein first is the Office of the Herald, to record Mar­riages, and Civil Rights due to the Nobility, and by noting them by certain Signs of Armory, Arms what. which is defined to be no other thing then the Seal and visible Character of Nobility, which is the most glorious recompence that either our own vertue, or that of our Predecessors could acquire us. Stirring us up to the Imita­tion of Vertue; for as another well observes, that when men have once fortified themselves with a setled Fortune of Wealth, they naturally look upward; for though the Myr­midons trembled at the sight of Achille's Shield, the precious Metall of the Arms was such: yet the noble Bearer thereof, upon the sight of it, was excited in Courage;

For beside the outward Splendor of the first City, he saw the glorious Atchievements of the Martial City.

It being the just Law of Arms to defend a mans Country, the plain Border in token of him that was besieged, and the waved Border in token of the Besieger; for Waters are [Page 31] either described ut fluant agmine tranquillo, with a peaceable motion with reference to the Political City, Sicut spiritus fe­rebat

[blazon of arms]

super faciem aquarum, or else Dauncetty, Dauncetty of six pieces. as we call it, with reference to the Martial City, declaring a great power or force, aqua viderit Jehovam et timuerit concitataque sit abyssus, Psa. the 47. And this seemeth to take denomination from Dans et redundans, giving in a plentiful or redounding manner; and as Rivers run to the Sea, Water signifies in general operation, SERVANTVR MOTV, and doth admonish the idle person, because QVIESCENDO TABESCVNT: unde Argent and Sable, signifies rest in God, QVIESCIT IN PLANO: where the Water is black, unde Sable and Argent is the Emblem of Contrition, where the Water is white, VT SORDES DILVAT. Vnde Argent and Gules, is the Emblem of Charity, Aquae multae non potuerunt extinguere Charitatem, Cant 8. Ver. 7. unde Azure and Argent is the Waters above and below, COELI REFERT IMAGINEM, that is Con­formity: I here observe the conformity of this Coat to the name, (viz.) Samford, or the freshford, NEC SAPOREM IMMUTANT, that though the Water of it self is fluctuable, yet this is the Emblem of an immutable mind, OSCULATUR LIMITES, he kisseth his bounds, it signifieth no Sectary in Religion, but one that goes the an­tient way. Again, Sandford, that is the Sandyford, beareth in conformity the Field quarterly Ermine and Azure, and in­dented in the midst, signifying first the purity, then the nature of Water, that though it run into Sandy places, OBVIA QUAE QUETRAHIT, it removes all obstacles, it will penetrate the Center, NEC RETRO REVOL­VUNT: it is the Emblem of a generous Soul, RUMPIT MORAS, it will break through the Sand; and if Moses speak, it will flow from a Rock ALTIOR NON SENIOR, [Page 34]

[blazon of arms]

though the Rock be the higher, the Water is the antienter, Party per Pile ingrai­led. though Waterhouse layes his Pile far, yet the Water sets its teeth home; for this manner of Line is called ingrailed, quasi ingredere, to enter, AURA CRISPATURTENVI, and this is the effect of the Element of Water. DISSOCIAT, SOCIAT, that which is solid, it holds, OPTIMA QUAEQUE RAPIT, 'Tis the Emblem of humane life. FUGIENS

[blazon of arms]

ABIT; Bendy Undy there is no antient House but hath felt the teeth of time; and Bendy Undy, signifieth some notable Enterprize done by force of Water, as testifieth Boswell.

The Pile that lies in the Water, is the Emblem of immor­tall vertue, because it remains PERPETUO SONITU, it argueth patience. INUNDATIONE FERAX, 'tis the nature of an Heroical mind, Brown 's Enquiry l. 7. c. 17. ANGUSTIIS ELEV ATUR and indeed, the true Ather, though it be as Liquid as Water, yet it hath in it the fierce principle of Fire.

The Greeks to express the great Waves, do use the num­ber of three, that is, the word [...], which is a concur­rence of three Waves in one, whence arose the Proverb [...], nay now a trifluctuation of evils which Erasmus ren­ders, Malorum fluctus decumanus, and though the termes are different, yet they are made to signifie the same thing, the number 10. to explain the number of three, and the single [Page 33] number of one wave, the collective concurrence of more, so by all these Lines dividing of the Fields: this manner of way is un­derstood the watry Element waved, being a proper bearing for Seamen, and for the most part, consisteth of Argent and Azure.

If the Water come from the Fountain Head, OMNIBUS AFFLUENTER, and signifies Bounty, and is not drawn dry, NEC ACTU NEC HAUSTU; if it descend MOTU PERENNI, it signifies divine Grace; if it ascend, SURGIT NE DETUR INANE. So that to bear Dauncete, signifies LATET IGNIS IN UNDA, there is in it sparks of Magnificence, having passed dangerous Seas, is a Coat rewarded with this sort of bearing from the King, LATE DIFFUNDITƲR, who as he is the Fountain of Honour, NUNQUAM SICCABITUR ASTU, as he is the Ocean, DEJICIT ET EXTOLLIT, deserving men are known by the Coat they bear, and though Water be the Emblem of the multitude that are like the foaming Sea that SORDIDA VOMIT, yet FRENANT ARENAE; for though Death and Hell, NON DICUNT SUFFICIT: Hercules his clrusing of the Au­gean Sta­ble being so performed. yet the Water is the Emblem of a liberal person, as the wise man noteth, Proverbs the 5th, Deriventur fontes tui foras & in plate is aquas tuas divide; how have the Romans immortalized their names by aquaeducts. Hercules his cleansing of the Au­gean Stable, being so performed; that Family which among us doth bear SABLE; a Bend OR between six Fountains proper, doth imploy the golden means procured by the River of Stourse arising in Wiltshire, from six Fountains passing through the Town of Stourton in Dorcetshire, giving both Name and Arms to the Antient Barons of that Name; the Name of Swale in Yorkshire, bearing a Bend. Waved Silves through an Azure Field, but in token of the River Swale; and if I should search further into the Mysteries of these Lines, I should plainly find some Foot-steps of the reason of their bearings: [Page 34] as for example, the name of Snowe beareth on a Fess between two Cotises Nebule, a Lion Passant, signifying, that though the Sun hath the greatest force in Leo, yet that being past, or Passant, the Weather is inclined to more Clouds, Snow be­ing above in the middle Region, and so forming another man­ner of Line called Nebule, from Nubes, which because it is of a higher degree then the Water, participateth of the na­ture of the Clouds, IN ALTIS HABITAT; and is the Emblem of Fame.

And as the Translator of the former verses writes in Virgil, Lib. the 4th, where the former Lines are a comment.

Nebule OR and Sable.

[blazon of arms]

This kind of Bearing being born in the Shield of Blunt ( Nebule OR and Sable) he was Captain General of the Footmen to King William the Con­querour, marching like Turnus, of whom the Latine Poet;

Virgil. l 7. A Cloud of Foot did follow the whole Strands, Shield bearing Squadrons hid the Argive bands. There being this Analogie between this and Turnu [...] his [Page 35] Shield, Blunts name signifying Yellow, and so called from the bright colour of his hair, Blunt bearing also the head of I O to his Creast, viz. a pair of Horns. Clouds of foot signifie the vulgar and common Souldier, who followed their Gene­rall, who was known from them all by his Creast, or cog­niscance, that

Black Clouds do signifie Labour and Travail, USQUE IN OCCIDENTEM PARIT, thus of the Bearers of this Coat that were descended from this first man, which was not content till he had brought forth in our Western Isle, bearing this Coat properly, having been by Office Master of the Ordinance; and which once kindled, MICAT ARDENTIUS, the blacker Cloud is attended with the hotter fire, PRAEMISSA DAM­NA TIMORI: if the chief be of the flecked Line, which is another manner of Line of the nature of the Ayr: 'tis a Messenger of Peace, SERENITATIS NUNCIA. If A olus have let loose the Winds to rage the Sea, Neptune appears, and puts the Winds in his bagg.

[blazon of arms]

This represents the Rain-bow, and is al­wayes flecked upward, Per Chief flecked. Arcus fit ex reper­cussione radiorum Solis in nube aquosa. Rayes then of Light signifie Divine Grace, and Clouds dispersed fall down in Stars: so the Insignia of the Family of Blackborn beareth Argent a Fesse Nubile between three Stars, to denote SPLENDOR PATER­NAE [Page 36] GLORIAE, being so denominated from a Black Water that graced his Field, MEDIIS PAX FVL­GET IN ARMIS. Fresh Waters are a Blessing to a Nation, and are best above. So that Lines that are derived from the watry Element signifie some memorable Benefits received from the Bearers, either in making Rivers Naviga­ble, or finding out fresh Springs, or draining Fens or Marshes which may be the reason of Lilburn's Coat being Argent, three Water-budgets Sable, having been anciently Wardens of the Marches; the Water-budget became serviceable to the Army assoon as Aeneas had landed:

Bornes anciently springing out of the Earth; and so Lilb [...]rne is as Shirborne, interpreted by Cambden, Fons Limpidus, sive cla­rus, whence they take both Name and Arms. Shierborne bea­reth Argent a Lion Rampant Vert: Out of the Eater came meat was Sampson's Riddle, and out of the Mouth came drink, he was able to testifie, the Ancients conveighing Water by Li­ons mouthes. Neither hath the Green Lion a small part in Chy­mical Herauldry in displaying the liquid Benefits that are at­tained by Coition; for the Water-budget was anciently in the Family of Bourchier, Spelman. which were also called Boursor and Bou­sor, Earls of Bath, as bearing the Purse for the common good; Boursor aevum qui it Provinciae, hoc est, rem pecuniariam admi­nistrat; as he is called the Pursor of a Ship that layes out for the necessaries thereon, though it is rather Boursor: and so the Name seems to be the Original of the Coat, as the Kings of Ca­stle bear a Castle, that of Lions a Lion that of Granado a Pome­granate. So that sometimes there are Names declared, some­times Actions; as when the famous fiery Drake had girt the World, like to A [...]neas and his Companions, he left his Old Coat of the Drake:

Being rewarded with a Fess Undy between two Stars, in me­mory of his so famous girting the World, leaving his own Countrey in so famous a design, in following the two Pole Stars (intercepted by the Ecliptick, or rather finding out Castor and Pollux) when one must sit if the other rise. Mortu­mar's Coat was a dead Sea, as the Name signifieth, till it was divided by Bars and Pallets, for that he hath the leading of the voward to William the Conquerour, and bears two Squies in chief to denote, that all Noble Designes are of high agitati­ons; and rather then there shall be a Vacuum in Nature, Wa­ter will ascend upwards, and be kindled INTERIORIS REFLEXU, to bear PALES or Pally waved, is a No­ble

[blazon of arms]

Bearing, Pally wa­ved of six Sab. and Argent. indented is not so much to shew Teeth, as to shew the extent, 'tis distribu­tive Justice, CUIQUE SUI; COMETA PAUCIS MINATUR, OMNI­BUS FULGET, it matters not whether by fire or water. So that DEDUCET IN PORTUM it is called indented ha­ving teetharguing antiquity. Ironit self is worn away by rust, and consumed by the deef file of Time; stately Edifices now appearing like Fragments of broken Walls. Wa­ter and Fire are both Emblems of Virginity, because they both purge and cleanse; and though Water hath the smoo­ther face, it hath the sharper teeth; PALAM VENIT SECRETO REVERTITUR. Time and Place is the Commanders Motto, DUCUNT IN ALTUM is the benefit of Occasion, and Palei you see ADMOTA ACCENDITUR: They are good Masters, but ill Servants; for where the Conquerour comes 'tis OMNI­BUS IDEM. The General to Duke William bare Argent a pale Ingraild between two Cortisses Sable: Bellasis. but to shew the ex­pedition [Page 38] and the invitation A LONGE. And he that sails from his own Countrey to gain anothers, ETIAME FLUMINE FLAMMAM, Pales signifying a man at Arms, and Palets Honour and Profit. It he set to Sea, AURA DUCENTE NON UNDA, he follows his Occasion. If he gain Honours its PRECIUM VIR­TUTIS. The General, whether on Sea or Land, had need be in a standing posture, TE STANTE TUTA; and he lead­ing the others, follow by Example A REGIMINE MOTUS. The Family of Manduit have Pally Indented, as leading to high Enterprises, QUA DUXERIS SE­QVITVR. And this hath given Occasion to many to as­sume something of their Lords Arms. The Family of Mack­worth bare Parted per Pale Indented, Sable and Ermine, and was augmented for especial Service (with a Cheveron Gules fretted OR) done to the Lord Audley, part of whose Arms was a Fret, that is, Nodus & crux interpretum. It signifies sometime the Law of Necessity, which though it hath no law of it self, of all Laws is most binding, QVOD NON SOLVITVR SCINDITVR. It reptesents also the faith of a Commander, a strict Oath, a Net cast into the River Styx. It is sometimes called a True-Lovers-Knot, In se con­texta recurrit. For the binding Property in shape it repre­senteth a Net: and therefore the Family of Warnitts in Sus­sex bear a Stag within a Frett or Straight: it hath been in re­quest ever since Gilbert Nevile came in with the Conqueror, and was his Admiral; for saith one, Wise Princes have Nets

[blazon of arms]

of Gold and Purple, Sable a Frett Ar­gent, other­wise called Haring­ton's Knot. wherewith they fish for men of Wisdome & Worth. Mittite retitiam in Ca­pturam, was the word of Command to S. Pe­ter, ut ex omnibus congregetis. The Christian Souldier must do his endeavour, though the success be not alwayes the same, though the Joynts thereof be charged with Plates, as in Platts Coat or Bezawts: as in Trussells, yet NON SEMPER TRIPODEM, 'tis not a Socrates that [Page 39] wayes draws up Gold; for it many times happeneth to the Wise man as to the fool, though Nets are Emblems of Wit. The Nets that the Apostles did use to catch men, was not that they should perish, but that they should be preserved and drawn out of the deep into the marvellous Light, saith St. Am­brose. And so it is a fit Bearing for a Disciple of our Lord. And St. Peter being honoured with this Office, to become a Fisher of men, he is said to have suffered upon this kind of Cross, with his head downward, that he might imitate his Master, AT IMAGO PER INVERSAM, and so became Admiral of the Sea Apostolical. From this kind is al­so taken the Portcullis, denoting the power of the King in all Causes Ecclesiastical a [...]d Civil, both in the Sea, and the Port, signifying Dominium Maris, used by King Henry the Seventh, to shew his power on the Sea to open and shut; and his pow­er on the Land, VT ERRANTES DETINET. In imitation of those Fishermen that were Defenders of the Faith, and in memory of which Service the See of York beareth the Keys in Saltire with a Crown:

The See of Winchester bears the Keys and Sword Fretted to­gether, to denote his valour as well as power, that Prelate be­ing a Count Palatine, and Prelate of the Noble Order of the Garter. Peterborough beareth the Keys crossed between Cros­ses. Glocester and St. Asaph bear the Keys also. And in relati­on to St. Peter's Land-Service all the Bishops bear the Pastoral Staff, which is the Leading-staff of the Church, Great Spirits do nothing mean, saith Plutarch, Because that sharp and active Spirit that is in them, can never lie at rest by reason of its vigour, but they are tossed up and down as it were in a tempest, till they come to a settled composed life. They that bear Fretts, do de­note witty and ingenious men in the Law Civil and Ecclesi­astical. They that bear Indented, do denote the hard­ship [Page 40] of the Man of Arms. Mountacut [...]s bearing Lozenges is to shew the sharpness of the Rock they climb by; and from whence Diamonds are digged and naturally formed, whence their name▪ in like manner Dautry, or De Alta R pa, which was of right worth thy esteem in the County of Sussex bear the same Lozenges or Diamond forms in their Arms, to Symbo­lize whence his Noble Name; who can look upon the Bars waved with the [...]ressants Sable in the Coat of Watterton, if he be acquainted with any Antiquity, but that he may easily conjecture that the Planter of that Family seemed to take his name from the same reason that the Pelasgi did, the ancient Inhabitants of the Graecian Isles, of whose Antiquity, be­cause the Arcadians could give none but a slender account, boasted to be descended from the Moons. In like manner El­lis in Yorkshire have the Cross charged with five Cressants, and to their cognizance a naked Woman or Helen, with this Mot­to HUIC HABEO NON TIBI. What doth it imply, but some fair Woman as Helen was, was in strife for, and for whom the Greeks and Trojans produced so great a war, love of Ladies producing the Bearing of Maiden-heads:

But to bring it nearer home in the honour of Christian Souldiers, who will not think but that this Coat was gain­ed in the holy Land, when the Christian Cross was rewar­ded by the Cressants. And albeit Montanus derives the name Elis from whence he supposeth the Greeks called [...], from Elishas (eating himself in Greece) who was Japhets eld­est Son. Origines Sacrae. Homer calls those that were under the conduct of Achilles Hellens, as well from a City called [...], founded by [...] the Son of Deucalion: and though perhaps you may say as once an Eminent King of Arms said, That these are [Page 41] pleasant Vanities; yet it plainly demonstrateth, that as men gave names to Towns and Cities, so they gave names to men, and so become reciprocal; for I do this but onely to hint at some reason of the Bearing, which every one desires to hear of, Lines being promiscuously drawn, and to the vulgar seem nothing without a charge or Bearing thereupon. Lamprides in the life of Alexander Severus saith, That he gave such Lands as he won out of the Enemies hands to his Lords, Marchers, and his Souldiers, that they should be theirs and their Heirs for ever, so they would be Souldiers; neither should they come at any time into the hands of any private person, saying, They would more lusti­ly serve if they fought for their own land; which opinion cometh next to the ancient Border'd Grou [...]d among the Ro­mans. This manner of dividing the Field by halfs or quar­ters, or by Lines direct, cross, overthwart, or such other, declareth how Art must follow Nature of that which it dorh figure, and not otherwise. What reason can be given why the three Brothers of Warren, Gourney, and Mortimer, should every one bear a severall Coat, and derive their Sirnames to posterity, all of them yet retaining the Metal and Colour of OR and A­ZURE, the one Checky the other Pally, and the other Bar­ry; But chiefly for distinction, as Aristotle noteth, Formam esse qua res ab alia differt, these being as it were several dis­sections of Jupiter's Brain by the Man Midwife, though these divisions also might have an eye to the Heroes of Old;

Checky being wrought on their Shields by the weaving of Sallow, to corroborate and strengthen them. Earl Warren had Checky in his Field. Again, Sir Ancell Gourney, who was at the winning of Acome with King Richard the First, where he took Prisoner the King of the Moors, bare Pally of fix pie­ces [Page 42] OR and Azure, and in remembrance of his so no­ble Atchievement, he bare the said King armed in Mail, rendring up of his sword: and parted in the Girdle-place counterchanged, was given by Sir Richard Gourney late Lord Mayor of London:

The Counterchanging of a Coat signifies a captivated E­nemy, CONVERTUNT NON EVERTVNT; for the Pale is still the same, though it be counterchanged; Omne naturaliter fugiat ab adversario, simile vero delectetur. It signifies Interest also, when a man will forsake his own In­terest for the good of his Countrey. Mortimer's Coat repre­sents as it were a great Marsh, divided by several Lines or Rivulets, his Descendants being Lords, Wardens of the Marches, or if you will, as they were men of power and wis­dome, so their Coat denoteth, being Barry of Six and a Chief, &c. the Bars denoting more properly Power, and the

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Chief the reason of a man. Per Chief Crenelle. Sometimes the Chief is divided by another sort of Line, and HIC MVRVS AHENEVS ESTO. And this is called Battelle, for that it representeth the Battlements of a Tower: it is of the nature of fire, endu­ring the hottest onset. The Romans reward­ing him with a Crown Mural, who first as­sailed and took the Enemies Walls. Berecinthia was said to be Turrita, and was crowned by this sort of Crown. Servi­us is of Opinion, that by Magna Mater, or the Mother of the Gods crowned with a Battled Crown, is meant the Earth, the proper Basis of all Edifices.

Ovid speaking of Cybilla saith, Quod promis turris urbibus illa dedit, and is therefore attributed to the Builders of Ci­ties; this Line being raised by twelve Battlements among the Aegyptians did signifie Duodecim Mansiones Arcus Magn [...], the twelve Houses of Heaven: as by the waved Line they understood the Element of Water and Abundance, whence the Greeks had the Letter M My, and from this manner of Line they took also their Letter Z Zeta, id est, Vita, signify­ing Life. If it fly upward, it is more particular fire; if down­ward and bending, hunder, ET FRAGORE FERIT. 'Tis the Symbole of Generosity, MICAT ARDENTI­VS, because it comes from the Battlements of Heaven: if fire seem to lie dead in the Coles, DETECTAE MI­CABVNT; and it is the Nature of Virtue to discover it self; the Ingraild Line is Earthly, but yet active, and there­fore signifieth Ingreder [...]; for being stirred VIGET VIR­TVS. The ancient Ensign of the Scythians was a Shield par­ted per Gyron and Crenelle, or Batled, with a Thunderbolt winged in the midst thereof, as testifieth Casaneus, Thunder being said to be left-handed, because it is feigned to be flung by the right hand of Jupiter. If one Line be in the upper part

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of the Escutcheon, is is called the Chief, Parted per Chief. because it representeth the Head, the Intel­lectus, the understanding, Sensum Membris reliquis tradit, it represents a man of Brain. And because the Chief consists of one Line onely, it properly falls to be discussed in the place of Form onely, dividing the Field, and is called Parted, except it be charged upon, and then it is called a Chief, id est, a Head, a Chief, a Commander, one in supream Authority: it is chiefly at­tributed to the Virtues of the Mind. To men of a contem­plative life, Aquae supra coelum laudant Deum, the Chief re­presenting [Page 44] the Firmament or the Line of the separation of the Waters that were above from those that were below. Quare post aquarum superiorum manifestationem prima creatu­ra (vid.) Lux condita est, hoc est, suprema aquarum portio est illuminata, quae Creatura omnium composita est ex radiis Spiri­tus increati aetern. &c. ex aqua subtilissima, the Metald Chief being to be preferred before the Coloured. Lumen de lumine is science informed; when a Chief is charged with Heurts, it signifies discretion; wherein Minerva is said to descend from Juno to refrain the wrath of Achilles;

Argent a Chief, Azure VERTETUR IN DIEM, the Azure being of the nature of the Light, RECTA DIFFUNDITUR, and is the Colour of Justice; therefore attributed to Jupiter. Sometimes the Chief is No­bile, to shew the benefits we receive from above:

Party per Chief Nebu­le.

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That Chief that is Nebule denoteth [...]a Preacher of Righteousness: UT IN ORBE PLUIT, or a bountifull Prince, DIVES IN OMNES. By this kind of Serpentine Line the Agyptians did denote a progressive Vivification of a Deity, CLARO AB AETHERE PAVOR. It is accounted a Noble Bea­ring, because it comes so near the active Light. It may well be called the Chief, being so much augmented by Sovereign Ensigns, as in the Coat of the Right Honourable the Earl of [Page 45] Rutland, who bare the Chief quarterly: Jupiter and Mars, on the first and last two Flower-de-luces; Sol on the second, and third a Lion Passant, Gardant of the third; As being de­scended from the blood Royal, from the Sister of King Ed­ward the Fourth. Also 'tis used as the chief Ensign of Spiri­tual Knighthood, those of the Order of the Templers ensign­ing their Paternal Coat-Armour with a Chief Argent, char­ged with a cross Gules. Furthermore how are Companies and Societies, incorporated by his Majesty, as a peculiar Badge of his Royal Favour, augmented in Chief as the Artilery, Military, East India, Staple, Adventurers, Russia, Elbing, Spain, &c. besides many peculiar Families, wherein is plain­ly denoted the Royal Ensignes? Per Chief Sable, and Argent is modesty in Virtue; ELEVATVR IN VMBRAM. Azure a Chief Argent RETVLIT IN MELIVS. OR a Chief Vert is the labour of a Bishop, VT GER­MINET. Gules a Chief Argent, a noble Captain, TE DVCE EGREDIAR. A Chief Argent and Sable re­presents one whose chief care is in a solirary life, to pay re­cognizance to Heaven, MVNERIS HOC TVI. A­zure a Chief OR is the Emblem of Dignity, ELEVOR VTFVLGEAM. Sir Westons Brown being Knighted by Ferdinand King of Aragon, is augmented in Chief by addi­tion of the Eagle to his Arms, Dated in Civitat. Burgien. the 15. Sept. An. 1511. Upton saith, That when the Chief seem­eth to have as it were a whole Coat, it doth well become a man who hath large Possessions by his Mother, and small Patrimony from his Father, bearing his Fathers Arms; not­withstanding wholly on the Chief his Example is, Portat unum signum capitale de nigro, & tres Rosas rubeas in Campo aureo cum uno capite rubeo, & tribus talentis in codem. And an in­stance of the like Bearing is brought by Guiliam in the Coat of Minors.

Thus as the Earth is divided, so is the Shield into Conti­nent and Islands, the Continent being that quantity that we call the Field, not separated by any Divisional Line, the [Page 46] Islands being invironed round about with some Sea, either by Plain, Ingrailed, or Indented Lines, or Borders, whose Nature is, CIRCVMSTANT NON MERGVNT; and these again are divided into Peninsulaes, Istmus's, and

[blazon of arms]

Promontories: Argent a Pile in Point Sable. Peninsulas when the Field is almost incompassed by a Border, yet ter­minates at the Chief, and is so joyned to the Field, the Earth extending it self out into Promontories in high Mountains, parting Per Cheveron TONITRV CALCAT; or else shooting it self into the Sea in Piles, INCONCVSSA MANET; the outmost end of which makes as it were a Fore-land, and is called a Pile in Point. Who would not think but that the Bearer of three Anchors on a Pile, is arrived at the Cape of good Hope, or else that it denoteth the Bearers

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Name to be Bide, Argent a Canton Sa­ble. IMMOTA TRI­UMPHANS! Did you ever see the Pile ingrailed with the force of Water, IMMOTVS FRANGIT, and em­plyes, that hardship is made easie through hopes of Victory, PROBANTVR FORTES IMPETV. Cantons bound but one Corner of the Field, and is a sin­gular reward for the study of Virtue: so the Virtuosi in a Can­ton bear the Arms of England as a Badge of his Majesties fa­vour to the Propagators of Sciences; for as it is reason that distinguisheth Man from Beast; So it is a nobleness of tem­per and Generosity of Spirit that distinguisheth us from one another. He that imployes his utmost reason in quest of what is best, accompanied with a generous resolve to pursue it, is the most worthy Person, having Jus imaginum, in whose pla­ces are come in Badges of Families Coat Armour, which are born as Ensigns of their Ancestours Virtue, which first merit­ed them, and are provocatives to Posterity to a generous imi­tation of them, and becomes justifiable in Religion, and as in [Page 47] the mixture of Colours, each loseth its proper beauty, and a different third results from both: So those that acting on their own fancies, refusing the strait Lines, do make a great many deformities, forsaking the sober foundations of Anti­quity.

[blazon of arms]

Imbelishments are not alwayes Orna­ments, Sable an Escoutcheon Argent. but sometimes transform one into deformity; take a plain Escoutcheon on ano­ther, or bounded by another, 'tis the pro­perty of a good Souldier that keeps a clear and quiet conscience in his Breast, which otherwise will gnaw out the roots of all Valour. Black and White are the Orna­ments of Nature, and the first Fields in Heraldry, though in­deed Gules is the proper Field of a Souldier, who refuseth not the bloody Coat of his Adversary, since it is an argument of manhood:

Now what I have said concerning all the Fields before go­ing, are said to be parted, but cannot properly be said to be charged, because there is neither Metal nor Colour predomi­nant. But when these Lines limit a space above the Field, they do constitute certain Charges or Honourable Ordina­ries which I come next to treat of, as the Nexus Materiae cum forma. But when these Divisions are charged with any thing of Sovereignty, it denotes high merit from the Prince, and are called augmentation of Honour, though it take from the first Bearing. Frederick the Fourth Emperour of Germany, gi­ving to Laurence Hutton of Hutton John in Westmorland, a Can­ton charged with a Falchion in Bend Proper, as a parcel of the Arms of Soliman the Second; for that in the Wars of Hun­gary [Page 48] he had won in the Field the Standard of the said Soly­man) joyned to his own Arms, which was Gules a Fesse OR, between three Cushions Argent tassled gold, and charged with three Flower-de-luces, and to his Crest parcel of the Imperial Arms, viz. On a Wreath Gold and Azure, two Eagles heads and necks in Saltire, couped Sable issuing through a Coronet gold, and were by especial favour declared to be added to his own Coat, Cushions signifying rest and repose. By what hath been said that God did in the beginning cause a double property in one Essence, whereby the one was potential, and no wayes yet Enacted by the brightness of his Emanation, and in that respect is termed Darkness, Privation, Voluntity, opposite to Light, and a friend to Death and rest; and the other was actual and pure Brightness, which is termed Light, Position and Voluntity a friend to Life and Action. So that Matter without the third Vnity of the informed Light could not be endued with the title of Goodness; nor can the Mat­ter of Arms be good till it shall be able to undergo all the Changes and Alterations that the active Form of the Metals and Lines can put upon it, whereof upon it the plain Line is like the first shadow, and the curved like the second; as that Umbra prima est absentia primae lucis, secunda secundae, & sic deinceps.

CHAP. III.

AN Ordinary Charge on a Field is an opake Body born upon it: Brusk a Border Ch cky Ar­gent and Sable. Opacum corpus est lu­mine impervium, which by reason of its soli­dity, it suffers not the light of the Field to appear through; and these that follow are called Honourable Ordinaries, quasi EX COMMUNIBUS NON COM­MUNE: and as they are more ordinarily used as tokens of Honour, or else for that those were called ORDINARII, that in a Battel led on the Battalia's, and being charged with other Ordinaries by way of Augmentation, are like those Augustales, that by Au­gustus were joyned to the Ordinary; and among all Military

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Ornaments there was none of higher esteem then that of the Fesse or Cingulum Militare, Fesse. being worn in the Place of the Girdl, and signifies Naturalis Facultas, the natural Fa­culty of a man, because it doth as it were gird the Loins, being also an Emblem of Chastity, Truth, Resolution and Readiness to Action, Virtues required in the Service of God. Moreover, the Heart and Parts which God requires are divided from the inferiour Organs by the Gi dle, where­by is implied a Memento unto Purification. Among married people. It is Vinculum conjugale; it is also an Ornament of [Page 50] the Church, 'tis an Hieroglyphick of Temperance and Mo­deration; 'tis to be worn on all solemn Occasions and Seats of Magistracy, viz.

The Military man onely being girt in a standing posture, and in the Heroical Age it was of great esteem, as may prin­cipally be seen in Homer, Qui Atridarum Balthea aurea facit, Hectoris puniceum, Diomedis discolorem. it being a reward for great Warriours and Military Captains, in which sense Joab had a reward of ten Shekels, and an Arming Belt. The Augmentation Coat born by Pelham was in memory of the disarming his Enemy in the Field, when he cut the Belt off, and took him Prisoner, retaining the Buckles on it. In like manner West, as a cognizance of his Valour, continues to wear the Chape of the Sword;

It is rewarded with sovereign Ensigns in the Coat of some of the Earls of Worcester, in testimony of their Extraction from Henry Beauford Duke of Somerset, Great Granchild of John, so named of Beauford in France, who was Son of John of Gaunt. It consisteth of the third part of the Field, and is as it were the path to Virtue; TRAMITE RECTA. It is also the especial Ornament of Knighthood, Unde Militari Cingulo decorare dicitur pro Militem facere, And as Sir Hen­ry Spelman noteth further, Tribunorum enim Baltheis conscri­ptus fuit Militum numerus, qui sub ipsis stipendium merebant, in which sense also the Scripture speaks of St. Peter's military Girdle; When thou wert young thou girdest thy self, and went whereever thou wouldest (So that to girt is a Tyron or Prentice to Arms) and in imitation of his Lord in the Holy War he carried nothing in his Girdle, Mat. 10. Neque au­rum [Page 51] neque Argentum, being nor onely with St. Paul ready to be bound, but to die. Also hence it is that so many have as­sumed the Fesse, ut accinguntur omnes operi. So that the Fesse is quasi fasciatus, Girt to the holy Land;

The great House of Austria beareth Gules a Fesse Argent, in memory of the Valour of Leopoldus at the Siege of Ptolemais, who fought so long in the assaulting of that City, till his Ar­mour was all over gore-blood, save the place that was cove­red with his Belt, and so left his old Arms, which were Six golden Larks, having this Coat assigned him by the Emperour in the year 1191. Gore also bears the Field all over. Gore Blood accompanied with this Military Girdle between three Croslets Fitched, in memory of the like enterprize; Gules a Fesse OR, representing martial Honour, which is represent­ed by Gold that Honourable Metal, which while it is tried, NON LAEDITUR SED PROBATUR; ‘Me cinctus Lauro perducit ad astra triumphus. Sil. Ital.’

Argent a Fesse Gules represents MENTEM ET CARNEM. The Fesse Cotissed signifieth correspondency, STRINGIMVS DVM STRINGIMVR. It is so Noble an Ordinary, that it represents both Nations, Tribes and Families, becoming good Armory for the plain­ness thereof;

And though the Bend seems to have a degree above the Fesse, it being more raised up and esteemed as it is the Sym­bole of Victory; yet they seem to have VNA VTRIQVE [Page 52] ANIMA with this difference onely, the Bende is account­ed as the Scarf, and the Fesse as the Girdle, both of them Mi­litary rewards, but differing in Position, and is often char­ged by Atchievements;

Yet let not him that putteth on his Armour, boast like him that putteth it off; for the Fesse is a preparation to Battail, the Band or Belt the token of Victory, in which sense our Lord and Saviour after his Triumph over the World, Rev. cap. 13. Sin, and Death is said to wear a Golden Belt about his Papps, whereas the Girdle was worn about the middle, as Sir Henry Spelman observeth: Nam haec sub vestimentorum appellatione venit; ille inter arma censetur. Zonam perdere is an argument of Poverty and Captivity; to be ungirt is to be unbles­sed: ‘Ibit eo quo vis, qui Zonam perdidit, inquit.’

It seemeth to be loosned in the Coat-Armour of Masham, who beareth it Humit in token of leading Captive. Josephus in his Antiquity of the Jews, speaking of the Girdle of the High Priest, saith, Zonae circulus significat Oceanum, qui utique cuncta suo Limbo circumdat. The waved Fesse is agreeable to what I spoke before of the Bearing in Sir Francis Drake's Coat. Casaneus saith concerning the Girdle of the High Priest, that it represents the four Elements in Colours; and that Fesse that is, Black argues it to be the Canonical part of the Panoplia, or compleat Armour of a Christian, the Girdle of Verity. It signifies also Virginity, from whence the pro­verb Zonam solvere, is used for the loss of Virginity. Argent a Fesse Sable is like worldly felicity, LV MINE ET VM­BRA. [Page 53] Gules a Fesse Argenr denotes Virginity, VIRET IN ARIDO. Red and White is Beauties chief Orna­ment, as well in the Fesse as in the Face; therefore those that are without fear or shame, are said to be impudent, ALBI ET PUDICI NESCIUS;

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Barrs are of the nature of the Scarf, Argent two Bars Gules. which as they are worn as well upon the Neck, or Arm, or Middle, have obtained their Posi­tion in any place of the Shield; onely they are never alone, as the Fesse is, but strength­ned with an other, Et fortitudinem notat mu­nimentum: properly such persons as either with Arms or Counsel will defend their Na­tion, but will barre out all disloyalty. The French call all Barrs running the Horizontal way Fasces, which we call Barrs, to distinguish it from the Fesse, which is always born in the Girting place; and Bars are sometimes born with Gemelles, and hath the relation to the Bearers, as the Zones have to the Sphere, that is Limits, or Ba s, which are never alone, Vbicunque vena Argenti inventa est, Pliny. non procul inveniuntur alia. Fasces represent the Bundle of Rods carri­ed before the Consuls. OR two Barrs Gules, that is, Love and Honour, wherein the Field is predominant to the Charge; ‘Dulcis amor patriae, quo non praestantius ullum.’

For in the bearing of Arms Propria patria videtur major & praestantior. Barrs, saith Sir Henry Spelman, denoteth strength and fortitude, Viros summos designat, qui vel armis vel consi­liis tutantur Rempublicam. An eminent Example whereof may be seen in the Coat of Farfax, whose Coat at first was Argent [Page 54] a Cheveron between three Hinds heads erased proper, denoting their Forestership at Ainestdy (hence all Coats by the Names of Porster, that have either Deer, or Broad-arrow heads, or Bugle horns, denote it to be a Guardian or Forester) But Sir Guy Farfax of Stetton, the Kings Serjeant at Law, Judge of the Kings Bench, was the first as bore the Black Lion over three Barrs in the time of Edward the Fourth, altering it a lit­tle after to Barrs Gemelle or broken, with the Lion over all, to signifie the liberty of the Subject, which was strongly asserted (by the two Judges, Father and Son) and recovered from strong hands by their means; and to the said Sir Guy for his wisdome sake was referred the Title of the Crown betwixt the two Houses of York and Lancaster, as testifieth the Right Honourable the Earl of Mulgrave; in which respect also it is supposed that the White Rose anciently on the shoulder of the Lion was a testimony of his fidelity to the House of York. The Black Lion, saith Ferne, as his Colour cannot be chan­ged, signifieth Constancy, Gravity, and Courage: and join­ed with the Bars Wisdome, Policy, and Providence, to stop the Devices and Practises of the Enemy. Lacie 's Nobil. pag. 31, & 84. The silver Field is an allusion to the Name of Farfax, which in the English Saxon Orthography was as much as Fairlocks, & were so deno­minated A pulchro Capillitio, Juno. saith Cambden. When Pallas was sent from Heaven by the white-wristed Queen to asswage the wrath of Achilles against Agamemnon;

The worthy Family of Barret of Aveley in the County of Essex, beareth in allusion to their Name; the Field Argent two Barrs Gules per Pale counterchanged., and so opposing vim vi; for counterchanged seems to allude to the Shield of Minerva that astonished the Beholders;

By the two Barrs Gules is signified the force of War;

Barry representing Strength, Security, and Safety; so O­vid;

So that by Barrs counterchanged is signified Prudence, to provide against and to kill Monsters, to whom must be expo­sed the Chrystal Shield of Minerva (against the many-headed Monster of Treason, War, Jealousies and Fears) and the strong Barrs of Fortitude is to be, not onely shut, but Barred against such Hydra's as is born in Barret's Creasts;

Lastly by Barrs are signified Metam & Limites uon transi­liendos, therein imitating the good General (acknowledging God the Generalissimo of all Armies) not exceeding his Barrs of reason: and though he find opportunity, yet will make a Bridge of Gold for his flying Enemy, wherein eminent is the President of T. Manlius Son to the Consul his Father, who exceeding his Bounds, though he gained a considerable Vi­ctory, and presented his Father the Consul with the spoils of [Page 56] his Enemies in these words; That all may know Sir that I am the Son of so worthy a Father, I present you with these spoils, which when challenged, I took from the slain Enemies. Yet the Son was condemned to death by the Father; for exceeding his Bars in these words; I think (saith he) that even though thy self (if thou hast any of my blood running in thy veins) wilt not refuse to restore by thy Punition that Military Disci­pline which by thy fault thou hast destroyed. Go Lictor, do thy Office;

Behold Torquatus, that bears the bloody Axe, to admonish the Bearers to be good in their Office, the Girdle keeping men from running from one extreme to another; the late Cardinal of France, Mazarine, bearing the Axe and Bundle of Rods, over all a Military Girdle, charged with Mullets, as a Note of his high Administrations;

Ovid speaking of the Girdle of Venus saith;

But methinks I hear the Man at Arms all this while but boasting like one that puts on his Armour, and like Agamem­non's Vision is called upon;

[Page 57]So now to raise the Fesse to the Bend, is to lift up the Soul­diers head to the Battail with Victory, which is to bring him off as well as I brought him on:

[blazon of arms]

Scroope never scrupled to bear the Gol­den Bend, Azure a Bend OR. since it was the token of Tri­umph and Victory: and if it be ingrailed, it shewes there hath been some hacking for it:

Zona suspensa ad humeros Victoria est argumentum; Pugna­turi enim ad lumbos adaptant ensem per Zonam, post Victoriam autem ad humeros religatur. The manner of a Victor being such, that first disarming of his Foe, throws it over his own shoulder in a more propense manner;

The Bend by Sir Henry Spelman is called Baltheum trium­phale, and is the Belt of Phoebus, who is said to rejoyce as a Giant to run his course, this Ordinary representing the Zodiack, OBLIQUE ET UBIQUE, containing the third part of the Field. It is the Symbole of Perseverance, INDECLINABILI GRESSU: it never swerves though it be to the right and left; it is as it were a scaling Ladder in the Coats of Ratcliffe and Culpepper, prepared for [Page 58] assault in the ingrailing thereof. When Jacob had seen this Vision, he Scaled Heaven, and covenanted with God, HINC NON RECEDAM. It is the Ecliptick Line of the Sons of Honour: it signifies an old Souldier; Senex ita cin­gebatur. And though it seem to incline, yet 'tis as constant as the Zodiack, RECEDO NON DECEDO. The old Souldier may repose, but not deviate. If it appear cotti­sed, its like the Sun between the Tropicks, and TEMPE­RAT AESTUE. It is rewarded by Sovereign Ensignes most eminently in the Coat of Th [...]mas Howard Duke of Nor­folk, who gave the overthrow to James King of Scots at Pl [...]dden Field, in memory of which so signal service, the King gave the Addition to his Arms, Dated the first of Feb. An. 5. H. 8▪ viz. On an Escoutcheon O. R a Demilion in a double Tressure Counterflory, with an arrow in the mouth Gules, which was part of the Regal Arms of Scotland, their Lion having been wounded in the mouth with the English Archery, all which was born upon the Triumphal Belt: some­times the Bend is adorned with Golden Buckles, like that of Aeneas in Virgil:

Buckles being also Symbols of Triumph and Victory, and in memory of the signal Fidelity of the City of Hereford to his Late Majesty, King Charls the First, when David Lesley the General of the Scots lay before it with all his Force: after a long Siege his Majesty disarmed his Belt, which was charged with three Buckles, Hereford Armes. and bestowed them as a reward for their invincible fidelity on the necks of the Lions Gardant, as sup­porter to the Arms of that City, and compassing the said Coat which was Gules three Lions passant Gardant Argent, with a Border Azure, charged with Scotch Crosses.

Reason of bearing Mother coats on a Bend.To bear the Mothers Coat upon the Fathers by the Heir on Bend is commendable by Vpton, an example whereof is instanced by Guilime in the Coat of Latime; and where [Page 59] there is a reason to be given, though the Coat be more char­ged; yet 'tis a Philosophical Tenet, Quod facit tale, est magis tale; so that if the Bearer of this Shield claim Nobility from Ancestry on his Mothers Side, he hath a President of it in Antiquity: Achilles retteats to his Grandfather Aeacus, and his Father Peleus, and his Mother Thetis, which Aeneas testi­fieth though he had never seen the Shield before:

Knowing at the very sight of the Shield which had so much of his Silver-footed Mother and infernal A acus, as plainly did declare by the Metal and Colour of the same, that he was no less then the great Grandchild of Jove.

[blazon of arms]

The Bend sinister is not accounted so honourable as the other Bend, OR a Bend sinister Azure. by reason it is by the Ignorant confounded with a Battone, which is a note of Illegitimacy, and is cut off from joyning to the Cheif sinister and the dexter Base Points of the Escoutcheon, and so denoteth cutting off of Succession, whereas the Bend sinister doth still continue, and is an Honourable Bearing, by what the Authour of la Science Heroique saith, Fuerit vero Milita­re Cingulum fortasse Pharetres ferendis aptum, quemadmodum hodieque simile Cingulo utuntur Milites geslandis ab humero pendulis ahenis, fistulis longioribus quas vulgo (CHARA­BINAS) appellant, it being that the Flask or Spanner is said to hang by, which Bearing though it be not usual among us, yet is accounted a noble Bearing in foreign parts, Gules a Bend sinister OR, by the name of Stotkheimes in Hassia, and by Bossucio in France, and Hemini of the same Countrey, Ar­gent a Bend sinister Gules, Rappach in the Empire, Gul [...]s a [Page 60] Bend sinister Argent, Meerger in Austria: and by the name of Weiler in Franconia, Wildedsteine, in the same Province.

If the Bend be subdivided into smaller pieces, it is called a Scarp or Scarffe, which are said to be Ornamentum quoddam mulieb [...]e, which, saith the Commentator on the Iliads, were no unusual wear for Souldiers; he translates [...] Scarffe, and not Funda a Sling, which was not so much as named in all the Iliads. When Helenus was wounded through the hand 'tis said;

It being a fit thing to hang his Arm in, and likely that his Esquire had ready for him, either as a favour of his own Mi­striss, or of his Masters, or for either Ornament; and so He­ctor appeared armed:

The Bend is the charging posture of the Lance by which the man at Arms gives the Onset. So when Achilles had shook his Lance in vain at Aeneas, he stands prepared at a charging posture, exciting them to be sharers, and to bear Bendy with him:

Cedant arma t [...]g [...], the Muses give place to Mars; yet the Olive Branch of Minerva is to be preferred before the Spear of Achilles, though that was made of Ash, because peace is to be preferred before war, the Pale being the Lance of the

[blazon of arms]

Military Knight in his standing posture; and that I may with this Ordinary raise your thoughts upright, Argent a Pale Gules. it seems by its very situa­tion to denote an upright man, one whom merit hath raised. Seest thou a man that is d ligent in his Calling? he shall stand before Kings. The standing posture denoteth vi­gilancy and diligence. It is very convenient (saith Vigetius) that the youths should be ex­ercised ad palum, or at Stakes, whereby they learn to strike at the sides, feet or head with a down-right blow or pointwise; the one assails the heart, the other the head. In the Military standing posture it is that of the Centinel which was not to lie down, SINE OCCASU FELIX. It denoteth vigilant Ca­ptains or Generals; and it hath the place of the second Principal or Lieutenant General, and is sometimes cottized as Adjutant Generals: the place of the Generals being on the Dexter Chief side or right wing, while the left side shewed the benefit of Council of War, or laying their heads toge­ther; goodness sanctifies greatness, and greatness supports his goodness. The Commander on the left wing represented by the sinister Chief, saith Vegetiue, to be a wise, fore-seeing, and a provident man, because greater dangers attend always that side the cottise is but weak; where it is not united to the back bone, the sinister Canton is often rewarded by the way of augmentation for dangers foreseen and prevented. Such a Canton was added to Sir John [...]lark, who took in lawful wars Lewis de Orleance Duke of Longevile at the journey of Bomy by Tyrovane, the sixteenth of August, in the fifth year of King [Page 62] Henry the Eighth, in memory whereof the Coat of the said Duke was (marshalled with his own by especial command from the King) being Azure a Demy Ram mounting Argent, armed OR, between two Flower-de-luces, of the last over all a Batton dexterwise of the second, which he wore with his own Coat which in Blazon is Argent on a Bend Gules between three Pellets, as many Swans proper, in which Coat Mars and the Muses agree, it arguing them to be as well learned Clerks as experienced Souldiers. The whole atchievement of a Knight is most exquisitely described by our Poet in the preparation of Paris to encounter Menelaus:

FERNE in his Glory of Generosity saith, that though a man be no gentleman of Blood, or Coat Armour, yet having captivated in lawful WARRS, any Gentleman, great Lord or Prince, Winning of Armes. he may bear the Sheild of that Prisoner, jure genti­um, saving in a Civil war in which the Romans allowed no try­umph, and there was good reason for it, because their own power was lessened; but to gain from an Enemy was the best manner of bearing; there were never but three. saith my Au­thour, which the Roman Histories make mention to have wone the Spolia opima, vid. Romulus who slew Acron King of the Canienses, Spolia opima us [...]et. and Aulus Cornelius Cossus who slew Lars Tolumnius, and Marcellus who slew Bridomarus or Virdomarus the Gauls General in the head of his, Army that is on the top of the [Page 63] Pale; the Spol a opima were so called either ab opibus the riches of them, or ab opere, because it was a work, or extraordinary deed: or for that opimum was all one with Amplum. Livy de­fines them to be Spolia Dux quae Duci detraxit, those spoils or Arms which one general hath taken from another which he hath slain with his own hands; to bear three Pales, is the bearing of the W [...]seman, Prov. 9. Sapientia domum suam aedificaverit excisis columnis suis septem.

The Pale is taken for a Column, Pierius. and is the Symbole of Stability, it consisteth of the third part of the Escoution and representeth fortitude, and sublime Glory. The main reason of erecting pillars to memory of men, was that their names might be lifted up above the vulger. Quantam statuam faciet populus Romanus, quantam Columnum, quae res tuas gestas loqua­tur! Hercules set up his two pillars with a non plus ultra, as if one Hero could have limited the ocean only, between the the streights of Pallets of his own atcheivements: but how are the Pallets of right Reason, inlarged by Columbus, Pallets less then Pales. having discovered a new world unknown to to the Ancients, and both for Art and Arms beeng famed!

He having obtained the priviledge from the King of Castile, Columbus his discove­ry. to quarter the Armes of his house, with the addition of the new world he had discovered; neither were the English any way behind in their famous long navigation, and though Her­cules was a man of mettal, he neither discovercd the Ameri­can Gold, nor the Brittish Tin in the Isles thereof, which was the true Casiterides, from whence that metal came to the Greeks: albeit that Pliny writeth that Midacritus first carried Lead from Cassiteres, Howel in­sert of Hist. 721. Britain known to the Phenicians which Dionysius mentioneth under the name of Hesperides, which are proved to be no other then the British Isles, and were known in the Heroical times long be­fore Homer, who makes mention of that Metal in the Sheild of Achilles.

He saith moreover that Metal was bought of the Phaenici­ans by the Greeks, and fetched from the Islands of Silly, off from the promontory of Cornwal, eight leagues in number, 145 be­ing the same, that from their plenty of Tin were called Cassi­terides, and from their site Hesperides, and so the ancient Britains had as much reason to set up pillars to their sublime glory, as ever Hercules had; for it is very well observed, that there wants not some minds with great wings, and wits with large sails, if there were any to shew the lure to them that fly­eth, or to open the Port to those that would lance out, Alex­ander called Achilles fortunate, because from himself he had valour, and from Homer Encomiums; from him Self merit, and from Homer glory.

Argent a pale Sable hath reference to the funeral Pale of the Ancients, built of Oke and pitch Trees, Homer making that of Patroclus to be 100 foot in length.

It was built in form of an Altar, whose every spark flyes upward, Gules a Pale OR is the flame of a noble soul.

The flames are precious made, no dust before was ere so rich, Gems crackle massy Ore dissolves.

Gules a pale Argent, what better doth it represent then as Haniball in the Funeral of Paulus Aemilius, having first con­doled his death, he to the flames commits his purple vest, and Souilders Coats.

For to beare the Pale is to admonish the mind to be rai­sed to that pitch of Royall fortitude, that neither the Surpri­salls of Love, nor the Assaults of malice, nor the Sieges of hope, nor the Batteries of desperation, nor the the Scaladoes of Audacity; Finally that neither Arms, nor Arts, or any affliction shall force the Royall Hart to surrender or yeild, either at discretion or Articles, in all which Aeneas was an eminent example. Whence came that incomparable speech of Aeneas to his Son.

That is, stand upright to the fame of your Ancestors; for the Mother of Ascaneus was sister to Hector.

The Pale is often charged with soveraign Ensignes, and in particular in the coat of the honorable Lionel, Lord Cranfield Earl of Middlesex, who beareth OR on a pale AZURE three flower de Liz of the field, this charge in Virgils words, being as it were struere ingentem piram, becoming an honorable Aug­mentation, or an ordinary of honour: and though the Lilly of the field, neither sow nor reap: yet good husbandry may as well stand with great honour, as breadth consist with height; the Pale then represents a Pillar of the Common­wealth, which because he is great will not bear the less: for can that be too low for a Lord, that is high enough for a King, the Kings of Arragon bearing D'OR a quatre pel's de gueules in memory, that one of the Kings thereof dipping his finger in the blood of new slain Sarracens, and with it drawing upon the Sheild those bloody marks which now it hath.

Pales waved represent Securitas Augusti, and he that beareth [Page 66] them may be thought to have done service on the narrow Seas: Pales ingrailed and indented, seem to denote him, who first assaults the Pall [...]sado, so gaining Corona valaris sive Pala­ris; the Pale is placed about the Castle and ditch, to secure the place, and in that sence the bearers are taken for Patrones and Protectors.

Thus Englished by Ogleby.

Flanches.

[blazon of arms]

Did you ever see a Pale seem to be bowed in at the ends which yet spreads both at Front and Rear? it signifies that where the Flanches are oppressed, there the front will be inlarged. Augustiis Elevatur, valour doth swell when it is crushed between two ex­treams; and then often times goes beyond her self in her Atchievements; this was expe­rimentally found many times in the Holy Land: especially after the taking of Anti­och, when the sword peirced, and famine begun to pine the small guts; they then resolve rather to lose their lives by whole sale, then to retaile them out by retaile: and having strengthned their imaginations, on some thing founded on Religion, having by chance found in the Church of St. Peter, the Lance wherewith our Saviour was peirced, they take this for their Bearing with them in the Field the Lance, re­presenting a Pale, which though strait of it self, yet rather then not believe victory from such an Ensign they will bow it to their own conceit: and having got a noble conquest did then and there mount St. George, having seen him that time by the Spectacles of their sancie, with an Army of white Horses fighting for them, the English then choosing him for their Patron.

[Page 67]Is the Field Checky between two Flanches Ermine? it signi­fies a wise man, who though he be crushed on all sides with the uncertain Game of the World, yet keeps himself upright, Statum servare is to keep one standing. And among the Ro­mans, Stare in Senatu, was to prevail in the Senate, whose di­stinctions were into Senatores Majorum, like unto the Pale and Senators minorum Gentium, like the Pallets:

Checky between two Flanches signifies a wise & prudent Ma­gistrate, who keeps the multitude in as the Flanks of a man do the small Guts. 'Tis so born by Sherington, is the Flanches Ermine, with a Star in the Black Field. It signifies a wise Clerk, and is born by H [...]bart. 'Tis a reward saith Leigh, for Virtue and Learning, a Bearing fit for Nicodemus, one that came by night; or if you will rather allow it the same sence our former Herald doth, it is an especial reward for Service in an Ambassage, and so with the former Field and Star it might represent those wise men who had seen the Star in the East. Neither must I forget that learned man Sir Henry Spelman, whose Aspil [...]gia is nothing else then the Language of Arms, wherein his Shield speaks for it self, Clypeique insigne decorum, as Virgil saith, he bearing Sable Plates 123 from the centre to the front, and rear between two Flanches Argent, the Flanches denoting Virtue and Learning, and the Plates the re­ward thereof; for what more durable inheritance can we leave then the endowments of the Mind, and the pure Silver Balls, whose melody sounds like the Bells of Aaron? and how are they better commemorated then in Arms, which hath the same property of Poesie?

Some indeed make a difference between the Flasks and the Flank, implying that the first is a Degree above the other, deriving the word from the French, Fleschier, to bend or bow: albeit there is but an Anagrammatical difference be­tween [Page 68] Tende and Bende, onely it seems the one is bowed more, and so is proved by the Stress:

The Voider, saith my Authour, consisteth of an Arch line of a Bow unbent, and is a reward for service by a Gentlewo­man. So that it seems Custome will not allow the Feminine Gender to bow the Bowe to the heighth, though she be a Virago: and the repose of a Military man is a Bow unbent, which as the Italian saith, MI REPOSO NO ES FLAQUEZZ, according to Plutarch's Morals, Lyram & arcum remittimus quo melius possit tendi: and if we give way to ease 'tis but to return with more vigour. If you do allow the Voi­der to the Lady, though she be obstinate, Lentescunt tempore. Clark of Derbyshire beareth the Flanches perhaps as a reward of Clerkship, whence they took their Name: and Arrow heads, in the Field, because Oratio humilitantis se nubes penetrabit. And so Davids tongue became as the Pen of a ready Writer. Dakyns of Yorkshire beareth the same, perhaps as a reward of Ambassage, being augmented with a Lion of England: 'tis born by Tho. Dochen, in a field Ermine between two Flanches, rewarded with two Cottisses, as a reward of his Learning, he being a Doctor of Physick, and Student of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford, whose Ensign is Loxengy Ermine and Sable in a Chief of the second, three Lillies of the first and Jupiter three flower-de-liz in Pale Sol, between two Flanchs Ermine, charged with a Rose Mars, was as an augmentation of especial favour to the Lady Katherine Howard, Wife to Henry the Eighth, which was done by the Advice of the Heralds:

[Page 69]

[blazon of arms]

Come I now to the Cheveron, A Cheveron. constitu­ted of a right Angle, the Bend dexter and sinister meeting in the Honour Point, 'tis Tectum sine fundamento: and though it be but low in it self, it signifieth the Top-rafter of an established House, and for Antiquity may justly claim the preheminence, from the Aegyptians, for the Greeks borrowed their letter Gamma Γ from the Head and Bill of the Bird Ibis, who call it by a name which signifieth a Rule, and we call it Cheveron from the French word Chaperon, a Headstall or Tire, one who is known by his Conus or crooked Top-piece of his Helmet. It may denote a couragious Warrier, a man of high attempts, though but low of stature, such as was the valiant Tydeus, of whom Statius sings: ‘Celsior ille gradu, &c.—’

Made English by Mr. Stephens.

The Aediles curales were the Masters of the Works among the Romans. And by a Cheveron it signifieth the Top-raster of an established House, denoting the Bearer thereof to have accomplished some memorable work; and if it be at­tended with Couple Closes, 'tis like St. George, that by the good help of his Horse kill'd the Dragon, that is, by the assistance of Sciences. And so it denoteth one who is a good Architect; so that to finish a difficult Structure is said Fastigium addere. And the Cheveron charged with Bezants denoteth Treasurers, Masters of the works, which among the Romans sate in Chairs of State. Neither is it any disparagement to bear any thing [Page 70] in Arms which may seem Mechanick; for the Romans flou­rishing in Military prowess, in great wisdome exercised both their Legions and Coherts in time of Peace to withstand idleness, by casting of Dikes, making of High ways, baking of Bricks, building of Bridges, saith Cambden, answering to which works are Borders, Pales, and Cheverons.

For there is no Legion that went on any Expedition with­out their Harpigoes, which they called Lupi, and instruments with double teeth, Axes and Saws, with which the wood and Pales were smoothed and sawed; so that Cheverons are Mili­tary Ensigns as well as Civil Implements, and may signifie either Bridges erected or dissected, according to Military ne­cessity.

It denoteth also Great Name and Estimation, Ut Fastigium attollere pro augere nomen & existimationem, in which sence the great and noble Name of Stafford beareth in a Field OR, a Cheveron Gules. It is called by Pliny and Columel Cantherium & Jugum: by Caesar, Fastigium: by Upt [...]n Signum capitale, as Sir Henry Spelman noteth in his Aspilogia. And in the mo­neys of M. Platorii, Hoc ipsum Signum bellissime habetur, aedes significans, quas ipse sacras condiderat. It denoteth a House and Family of an Ancient Patrimony. It denoteth saith Aspi­logia the first Bearer thereof to have been a Laical Person, which if his Son had increased his Patrimony, he took ano­ther Cheveron; for by Novus Homo among the Romans was un­derstood he who had been dignified with any of the greater Magistracies, who had the right of Images, equivalent with Arms, as evident demonstration of Virtue. The French Tre­sor saith, A Cheveron is the Spur of the Chevaleir: and there are others again by the Cheveron understand Ecclesiastical Persons, who wanting those evident demonstrations, and re­quiring them of the Heralds, hath it given him from the King of Arms, either one, or two, or three at the most. The Fa­mily of Archdeacon in Devonshire bear Argent three Cheverons Sable, having at first perhaps taken that Name from their Ec­clesiastical Dignity, and now is become the Paternal Coat, [Page 71] and not the Coat of the Dignity: for as the same Authour observeth, hence you may observe the difference of Heirs and Successours: Heirs may adde or diminish the number of Cheverons, according to the increase or diminution of their House. But they that bear them in succession ought to bear them as their Predecessours; and the reason is, because Haere­des portant Arma suorum Parentum, Episcopi vero & Abbates portant Arma suarum Ecclesiarum: and if the Cheveron be transposed, it signifieth the Bearer thereof to have lost part of his Substance, but yet is in hope of recovery again. The ancient Earls of Henault bear OR three Cheverons Sable, which with the Area of the Field make seven Paths, or Spa­ces, which is said to commemorate those seven famous Pas­sages that lead directly into all parts of France, from a Pillar in the City of Beauvais, erected first by B [...]onhild, who was contemporary with David King of Israel. But the first time I meet with this Bearing in a Shield, is on the Seal of one of the Earls of Flanders about the year 1091. for though it seem to denote the first Bearers to be men of low For [...]une, yet signi­fies a raised mind, like to that of Fabricius:

It also by its position may denote the Generals Tent, or the head-quarter of the Army: being staked down at the bot­tome, and ending in a point, and therefore may justly be cal­led Signum Capitale; and where is the Generals Tent more safe then in the midst? as the Cheveron is placed, from whence is Counsel best infused? so that to smite in the Tent, denoteth surprisal, that though their Rafters seem to be established, yet to pluck up their Stakes and Pales is to give the heveron, and he that raiseth a siege, may justly bear this Sign, or he [Page 72] that by fortification shall strengthen the besieged, whereby they may justy enjoy their houses; for this is the justice of the law Military. Quia dominum rerum justo bello captarum in victo­rem transfertur. And so very often the Coat which is gained in the Feild, may be born on the Cheveron: albeit the causes thereof may not be manifest, as also upon all the other Stati­onary Symbols, or Ordinaries of honour, which have their de­terminated place in the Field; but what is spoken here, is but to note how honorable they may be accounted, according to that of Homer;

When the Heralds were sent to demand Briseis.

The lawmaker did thus provide for the encouragement of men, of action, that the victor should be rewarded in this or that manner. So the Chief signifieth in general, a Chief, a head, a Commander. By the Bend was signified a Triumpher, by the Fess, a Tiro, or one that girts on his Armes; by a Che­veron, a work-man: (though some will have it the tire for a womans head) without whose aid, no difficult matter could be brought about; for the Romans had Tribunos Plebis as well as Militum, by the Saltire they did denote the whole Feild of Artillery: having the Generals quarters in the midst, which though the Angles of this ordinary be oblique, yet such was the motion of the Animal Spirit of the world, according to Plato; for in the field of Warr, the Tessera or word of com­mand [Page 73]

[blazon of arms]

issued Saltire-wise, Gules a Saltire A [...] ­gent. being conveighed by the Tessararii, whereby the Angles were not ignorant of what was designed in the Center: so as to obedience, this is an At­chievement of man-hood, and is called a Salter, as if it were an Engine to assault, or gain, p [...]r Saltum: by which a man leaps or rises to gain an enemies Fortress, tis under­stood an accessary; and hence you may observe (though I would not detract from the honour of any Nation) that those Nations that were obliquely ingaged in the holy War, such as the Spanish, Scots, &c. bore their Cross oblique, whereas those more noble manly Nations of the Germans, English, and French, who made it their business, bare their Cross at right Angles, however the honour of this Crux decussata, is in its Antiquity the Elder Brother being born by the Egyptians on the breast of Serapis, being the same which Jacob made in the crossing of his hands; and the same from whence the Greeks had their letter X id est, processus animae mundi, and, since Christianity, it claimeth its original from Constantine: and Vin­centius saith in his Speculo Historiali, that the Crosse was sent from Heaven, when an Angel brought unto the blessed man Mercury, all Armour necessary with a Sheild Azure, thereupon a cross flowry between four Roses gold, according to the French Tressor, this is the Guidon of the Chevaliere: and this kind of Bearing, denoteth brave and valiant men; who as they are better for number or valour, so they seem to fight quadrata fronte: after the first manner of fighting, and, according to Vigetius his advice, he that thinks himself inferiour in num­ber, let him with his right wing assault the Enemie on the left; and he that thinks his right wing to be the strongest, Vigetius de Re Mi­lit. lib. 3. cap. 26 let him therewith set upon the left wing of his Enemie: but he that hath good Horse, let him assault both wings, placing his Auxi­laries before the midst of the Battel, as a Reserve behind the right and left wing; representing the Dexter or Sinister Base of the Feild.

The Saltire is principally born by the Scotch Nation, in sign of their Patron St. Andrew who was crucified upon two Trees, &c. and is an especial note of Martyrdom, as of St. Laurence, and of St. Alban who suffered Anno 286. Who bore Azure, a Saltire OR. And, as I have noted in my Sphere of Gentry, that though the ingrailed Saltire be sharp to the ascendant, yet it is firme in the foundation, and may justly be called an honorable Ordinary; for, in a Legion, they were called Ordinarii, that in a Battail led on the first Battalia: so the Saltire doth seem as it were the Ordinary of Ordinaries, and the first Leader of the Cross; and whereas they were called Augustales, that by Augustus was joyned to the Ordina­ry; so the Saltire of it self signifies a man at Armes, CAP APE; and being rewarded by soveraign Ensign is more August and Ample, signifying one of those lesser Tribunees, who acquired their place by industry: whereas the greater Tri­bunes are recommended thereunto by Sacred Letters from the Emperour. So that by the By, you may take notice of the bearing of Billets in Arms, they being nothing else but Letters commendatory, or rather according to Hugo de notis Tessera­riis from Turn [...]bus lib. 19. cap. 26. Tesse [...]em, a Crae [...]o [...] dictum puto, id est, Quatuor: Erant enim tesserae olim frustilla lignea quadrata. A thing being every way square, a watch-word, a privie signe or token, whereby Enemies are discer­ned from fellowes in Arms, a Tally, whence the name of Billets, as being made of peices of Wood; and they are ren­dered Letters also, for that the same word signifies Tokens or Bills of exchange given to men, (according to Livy, Tesserae [Page 75] nummariae, vel frumentariae, by which they shall receive a cer­tain summe of money, or measure of corn; whereof the Tes­sera militaris, tabella erat latiuscula inscripta quae sole occiduo a Tribuno accepta, ferebatur ad signorum principes, rursumque ad Tribunum redibat, unde is omnibus esse datum signum cognosce­bat; and the Tessera frumentaria (had) ce [...]to frumenti nu­mero inscripto gratis dabitur populo. So that by Billets, may be signified Notarii Militantes if they be Gules, Notarii Secre­torum if they be Sable, Notarii Principum if they be Gold, Et soli dicuntur habere dignitatem, if Argent, Tribuni Notari­orum, which we call Secretaries.

Furthermore, what the Saltire wants in the height, it hath in the breath: like Ulysses; who, being espyed by King Priam.

It then represents a prudent man at Arms, as is neatly re­plyed in the answer of Helen to King Priam.

For by the Saltire is signified an Engine or Trap for wild beasts, and serves the Man at Armes, for his execution of his Strategems: denoting the bearer thereof to be a po­litick Person, and not a covetous person, as Leigh noteth, except it be,

And though indeed the Family of Nevile, have their Saltire Silver, yet the Field is Red, and that for valour; as our Country-man Michael Draiton, on the Barrons Warr,

Where the Rose is upon their Saltire, it is to denote them to be descended from the sixth Brother, of the house of Bergaveny: which house is now the prime Barony of the Kingdome,

This Ordinary consisteth of the fift part of the Feild, and In­genii Largitor, necessity being the Minister of Policy: for if the Saltire be charged, it shall be enlarged to a third part.

Did you ever see two Lawrel Branches in Saltire Ragule? 'tis to denote FLAMMESCITUTERQUE it enflames both: one noble Nature stirs up another: & this Ensign was used in the Martial Enterprize of the Duke of Burgundy, and in Lawren­ces Coat, allusive to the Name of Laurentum (the Eldest City of Latium) so called, of the Lawrel wood that grew near it; the Crosse Lawrel, or Raguled being rubbed together, producing that flame▪ which consumed the Martyr St. Law­rence; and is a Species of the plain Crosse, which maketh

[blazon of arms]

Right Angles, consisting of the fift part of the Feild, Argent a Cross Gules, if uncharged, as the Saltire doth, if charged increased, also as that is; it is called Crux, a cruciando as Guiliame noteth; because of the Torment they undergoe, who suffer this kind of Death: it is ren­dred a Cross, because it directly goes averse to the Grain, and is often sent, as well as taken up, to abate proud thoughts: so you shall hear Juno [Page 77] chiding Jove, for protecting the Trojans after they had been Truce breakers.

The vitiousnesse of the undertakers being made one of the great impediments of the success in the Holy Land: Fuller's Holy War, l. 5. c. 24. where Saladine the great Conqueror of the East could boast of no­thing but a Black shirt that he bore to his Grave; and that Famous General, and first Christian Worthy, Godfrey of Bul­loine chose rather the Cross then the Crown: and, though it was born before in Armes, it was most commonly and ge­nerally used since the Holy Warre, the plain Cross, or as we call it St. George his Cross, being the Mother of all the rest; and we have it from Lucius Marinus Siculus, that St. George appeared in white Armour with a flaming Cross upon his breast to Peter of Arragon, by whose help he obtained a Me­morable victory against the M [...]ors; which Shield he assumed for that of Arragon, adding four Moores Kings heads that were slain in that Battail, which happened about the year 1096.

Hierom Blancas reports that Garsia Ximen [...]s, first King of the Suprarbienses. when his Army was shrewdly put to it in the year of our Lord 724. saw in the Aire a Red Cross as it were in a golden Shield upon a Green Oak, whereupon he took that for his own and the Kingdomes Armes.

Inigo also tells us, That when Arista the fifth King of the Suprarbienses was fighting against the Moors, there appear­ed to him a silver sharp-pointed Cross in the right Angle of an Azure Shield, and that it was then made that King's Arms. And, as the Authour of the Holy War observeth, That as by the Transposition of a few letters a world of words are made: so by the varying of this Cross, either in Fo [...]m, Colour, or Metal are made infinite several Coats. Patee, when the ends [Page 78] are broad; Fichee, whose bottom is sharp to be fixed on the Ground; Wavee, which those may justly challenge who sailed thither through the miseries of the Sea, or Sea of miseries; Molinee, because like to the Rind of a Mill; Flo [...]id or Garlan­ded with Flowers, crossed, being crossed at every Extream, po­tent from the similitude that the ends have to a Crutch; and this sort of Cross was that of Jerusalem, most frequently used in this War, being Party.

Argent a potent Cross between four Crosses OR.

[blazon of arms]

Say not, this is false Heraldry in this Coat, because it is Metal upon Metal, seeing the words of the Wise are as Apples of Gold upon Pictures of Silver; for as Johannes a Kempis saith, Dispose and order all things according to thine own will, and yet thou shalt never find but thou shalt alwayes suffer one thing or other, either wil­lingly, or by constraint, and so thou shalt always find a Cross, wherein constraint will traverse thy will so to all the varieties of For­tune: so that to bear the Cross is an Heroical Bearing, it being the proper and true Badge or Cognizance of all those, that being mustred, do war in the Church Militant to the Worlds end; it being the onely Badge that was sent from Heaven at the first, when the Angel set a Mark upon the Lintel of the doors of the Israelites, since which it is had in sacred esteem among the Aegyptians themselves in their Hieroglyphicks, in signification of the life to come, as testifieth Orus Apollo: neither could they render any other reason for it, then that it seemed to them to be certain sign of some Divine Mystery. The Greeks borrowed the let­ter T from them, who called it the letter Tauti Dei, who is said to be the Inventor of their Characters. It was praefi­gured in the Brazen Serpent, erected by Moses, the Condu­ctor of the Israelites through the Wilderness, in imitation [Page 79] of which Cross, that of the Potent is assumed, and is born with Metal upon Metal, that all the Nations of the World might participate of it in their Coats, bearing either the Metals of OR or Argent.

England bearing Gules a Cross Argent.

Ireland OR a Cross Gules.

France OR a Cross Azure.

Scotland Azure a Saltire Argent, &c.

And so Jerusalem is the praise of the whole Earth, the main Cross in the middle attended by the four Crossets or lit­tle Crosses, typifying the Cross and Martyrdome of our Sa­viour, extended to the four parts of the World, Haec alie­natos Deo conjunxit. Nicholas Upton de studio Militari in his fourth Book accounts the Cross the most worthy of all Bear­ings, and to have the precedency, and making use of the words of John Chrysostome in his Sermon on the Cross hath these words, Crux nobis totius beatitudinis causa est, haec nos a caecitate erroris liberavit. So the Christian Souldier runs not from his Colours, Haec debellatos quieti sociavit. The crou­ched Fryars came into England about 1244. and were so cal­led from wearing a Cross on their staves & backs, haec peregrinos cives ostendit, and so they went out Pilgrims, and returned Palmers; Crux spes est Christianorum, and therefore signed with it in Baptism; Resurrectio Mortuorum, and therefore born flowred; Dux caecorum, vita d seratorum, baculus claudorum, consolatio pauperum, Gube [...]atrix navigantium. The Seaman can never sail safe without the Cross-yard, nor the poor be sustained without the potent Cross of Providence. Lastly, he concludeth it to be Portus periclitantium, and so born ancho­red. It is [...]us obsessorum, and so born fitched: and though even in the Church of God some have superstitiously dream­ed this figure to be a healthful sign, yet Suscipere Crucem is used as a Phrase to signifie the going to the Holy Land, haec ratio tentandi aditus, this is the way to enter into glory; Una enim eademque ad Virtutem via patet omnibus. And the imitation of our Ancestours Virtue is a brave spur to Ho­nour. [Page 80] But how many pretend the C [...]o [...], whose Ancestours never were at the Holy Land, or never returned to leave their Bearings to boast on. But among Sovereign Rewards the Cross it self is a Noble one, and a sign of Sovereign Favour, the Noble City of London bearing it first plain, till augmented (by the signal service of Sir William Walworth) with the Dagger, the famous City of York bearing the same Field and Cross, rewarded with five Lions of England; and that of Lincoln the same with one Lion, in the Centre virtual­ly, as much as the other five. The University of Camb idge a Cross Ermine [charged with a Fo [...]k, to shew the purity of those Springs of Learning: and very many Companies and Corporations, as the Artillery, the Military Societies: & by all which you may perceive plainly by the Coats the Language of the Bearing. I could insist upon many Noble Families, whose Bearing denoteth their Atchievements, signally that of the Viliers Duke of Buckingham, being five Escalop shells on a plain Cross, speaking his Predecessours valour in the Holy War. For Sir Nicholas Villiers Knight followed Edward the First in his Wars in the Holy Land, and then assumed that Coat, whereas before he bare Sable three Cinque foils Argent. Upsall Captain of the Crossbow-men to the Conquerour bare Argent a Cross Sable. And Painell Captain of 300. Foot bare Gules a Cross flory Argent. At the same time Seward an English man Victualler of the Camp to the said William the First, bearing A gent a Cross Florie Salle. And Stephen Son to the Earl of Campaigne, who was made Earl of Awmarle by Willi­am the Conquerour bare Gules a Cross Flory Varry. And Ivon Lord Vessy, who came into England with Duke William bare OR a Plain Cross Salle. Jeffery Botetort Lord Botetort bare OR a Cross ingrailed Sable. And in what esteem the Cross was before the Conquest, may plainly be seen in the Coats of the Saxon Kings; Egbert nineteenth King of the West-Sa­xons, and first Monarch of English men, bearing Azure a Cross Patonce OR. Edelbert Brother to Edelhald Azure a Cross Form; OR. Edelbred Brother and Successour to Edelbert OR [Page 81] a Cross Forme flowry Azure. Edward sirnamed Senior, Son to King Alfred, bare Azure a Cross Patonce, between four Crowns, the flowring Cross being the Emblem of future Glory.

Athelston eldest Son to King Edward the Senior, bare per Saltire, Gules and Azure, a Cross Botton OR; Eldred Brother of King Edmond bare Vert, a Cross pattee fitched Argent: and in the Dexter Canton the Virgin in a Glory. Edwin his suc­cessour the same of King Egbert, Edgar sirnamed Pacifius, A­zure a Cross Pattee between 4 Marlets OR; Edward the Son of King Edgar the same Cross between 5 Martle [...]s. Edeldred Son to King Edgar by his second wife: bare only OR a C oss po­tent fitched Azure; and Edmond surnamed Ironside eldest Son to King Edeldred by his first wife, bare Azure, a Cross patonce between fower Martlets; St. Edward the Confessor Son to King Edeldred bare the same Cross with five Martlets: and for the esteem that the English Nation hath of the plain Cross, it is easily discerned, seeing they have alwayes used it in their Standards and Ensigns to this day. King Edward the third joyn­ing it before the Armes of England and France, in his insti­tution of the Garter, the Cross denoting all Divine and Moral virtue, as, OR a Cross gules denoteth Faith; HAC PACIS FOEDERA FIRMES, OR a Cross vert denoteth Hope. Seth plantavit ramum Arboris vitae, ex qua arbore deinde Moyses virgam suam fabricavit; saith, Raby Jochnides, Argent a Cross gules signifieth Charity, or a crosse Sable is Fortitude: Argent a Cross Azure is prudence; Azure a Cross Argent, is the co­lour and Metal of Justice. for when Astrea left the Earth, she was fixed in Heaven; Argent a Cross Vert denoteth Tempe­rance, it is a bearing of much reason, because it is right An­gled, and if you please hear the reason of the bearing among the A [...]gyptians Abnephi delivers in these words; [...]rucem au­tem circulatam Misraim a Noe per Patrem Cham accepit ille, ab Adame, quae quidem nihil aliud est, nisi character Mysterio­sus, cujus epe Angelus Raziel Adamum maxima quaevis Mysteria edocebat, qui Character per continuam successionem posteris tempo­ribus [Page 82] per Noe ad Cham & ab hoc per Misraim ad Aegyptos pervenit, Cham quoque in usum magicum convertit, & multa eo Miracula & prodigia edidit. But should I seek the reasons of all bearing of the Cross, I should either lose my self in Aegyp­tian darkness, or Cross the Readers expectation; Antiquity bu­ried those with their Leggs a Cross, who took upon them the Cross, and were marked with the Cross; who took upon them Sacred warfare, to recover the Holy Land from the Mahometans and Turks, in which respect the Umfrauviles bear on their Escoutcheon. Crusilie, a Noble man of which Family lieth buried Croslegged in the ancient Minster of Hexteldesham in Northumberland. The Bohuns under King Henry the First, which flourished unto King Henry the Seventh's days, bare (as Cambden testifieth) a Cross Azure in a Field OR, and they were by inheritance the Kings Sprigurnels, that is, the Sealers of his Writs. The Inhabitants of the Town of Colchester af­firm, That Flavia Julia Helena, Mother of Constantine the Great, was born and bred there, being the Daughter of King [...]oel, and in memory of the Cross which she found, they give for their Arms a Cross Enraguled between four Crowns, Azure, three Crowns in Pale, by King Edmond Son of Edward the se­nior.

Many times Coats have more then one Ordinary, and are joyned with Honourable Partitions, and have very much signi­ficancy in them; for if we may believe the Author of the life of Chaucer, the Coat of Jeffery Chaucer our famous English Po­et was taken from his skill in Geometry, grounded on the

[blazon of arms]

27. and 28. Proposition of the First Book of Euclid, which is, If a right Line fall on two other right Lines, and make the alter­nate Angels equal to one another, those right Lines shall be parallel to one another, &c. Sometimes the Cross is joyned to a Chief, sometimes depressed with a Bend, and some­times Voided, all which have particular Denominations, Honourable Ordinaries [Page 83] being the third Unity, the Field being first by a Line, secondly a superficies; and being charged with an Ordinary, becomes a solid. The Potential or first Colours was a Plain Nihil, or Aliquid in Potentia & Actu, that is, without the Form or Shape of any perfect things: so that what is perfect doth consist of a third Unity, the material proportions proceeding on even numbers, as Party, Paly, Bendy, Barry, &c. & the more the matter was multiplied into it self, the darker and thick­er it grew, so that charge upon charge became obscure, whereas again the nearer it is to the Metal, as to the Unity of Light, it is the more noble by the actual and pure brightness there­of, producing the formal Proportions of the Fesse, the Bend, the Pale, answering to the odd Numbers of 3. 9. 27, &c. three being the first Number of Perfection, and the radical Number of Form in the course of Nature, consisting of the longitude, latitude, and profundity of the Matter or Shield, the Chief consisting of the third part of the Field; So also the Fesse and Bend, the Cross and Saltire being in pro­portion, as five parts of the whole Shield to nine. Now be­cause there are four principal Colours, namely, Gules, Azure, Sable and Vert, containing most perfect proportions in musi­cal Symphonies, joyned with their Metals, White and Black is as Diatessaron, as 4. to 3. OR and Sable, is as Disdiapason, as four to one: Argent and Gules is Diapason, as two to one, or four to two: OR and Gules Diapente as three to two: Argent and Azure as four to one: OR and Azure as five to two: Argent and Vert as three to one. So that to bear 4. 3. 2. 1. is perfect Coat Armour, as likewise 3. 2. 1. of any thing, being increased from Unity to Ten; and where there is a multiplication of Forms, so as to fill the whole Field, it may properly be called Semi, saving when it is of Crosses, 'tis named Crusilie, assumed first at Jerusalem.

[Page 84]

[blazon of arms]

Such as that of Jerusalem is, such is this of Gore, where the Crosses are crossed, and called Croslets; and being pointed is called fitched, having a Fess between, as being girt to the Holy Land. Neither doth the plain Fess onely signifie such Persons, but the Dauncette also, those who as Dr. Fuller observeth, either sail thither through a mi­serable rough Sea, or a Sea of miseries, wherein they met with a Trifluctuation of Evils, the Valva­sors

[blazon of arms]

bearing this as their Girdle) And the Sumners being girt with the same Belt Ermin in the Field of Venus. The ingenious Mr. William Sumner in his Antiquities of Canterbury, his Treatise of Gavel-kind, and other Treatises of Antiquity, having made his Paths in the deep Waters, suffers me not to forget, but to mention him as a Lover of Heraldry. And thus the sum of all the Ordinaries is this, they are Ensigns of the Man at Arms; the Chief is his Helmet, the Fess is his Girdle, the Bend is his Scarf, the Pale is his Lance, the Cross is his Sword, the Inesc utcheon is his Shield, the Bars is his Breast-plate, the Saltire is his Guidon, the Cheveron is his Spur, the Mantle is his Covering, & the Creast is his Cognizance, whereby he is known to his Companions in Arms, that and his oat being the onely visible Characters of his own Person, and being born Ordinarily by Persons of Honour, became to be called Honourable Ordinaries, and Mantle, Helm, Coat, and Creast became the Hatchments of a Gentleman; and the Sword, Shield, Spurs, Gantlets, and Standard the Atchievements of a Knight, being Stationary Symbols.

CHAP. IV.

SAble was the first Field, especially repre­senting old Time and the first face of the Cube. But I having already shewed the Matter and Form of Arms apart, and the Dominion that the Form hath over the Matter in those Forms that are Stationary Symbols, having their place assigned them in the Escoutcheon, and are called Honora­ble. Come I now to the Logical Substan­ces or created Beings, usually applyed as Honourable Charges, either in the Field or on the Ordinary. I purpose for the bet­ter methods sake to proceed (as in my Sphere of Gentry) with the particular Days works in the Creation. Aristotle saith in his Eighth Book of Physicks, Natura non agit inordinate, neque operationibus suis facit saltum, unde causa ordinis, & re­rum ipsarum, quae ratione constant & ordine. I shall take my beginning with Saturn or Time, and that because experien­ced old Age deservedly challengeth respect and honour. He is described with a half extinguished Light, his face as it were meagre and pale, for that the best of the Blood is ex­hausted in the operations of the mind, and the face thereby left exsanguine and discoloured; and therefore Nazianzen calleth paleness pulchrum sublimium virorum florem, as a note of men of profound and studious contemplations, and there­fore [Page 88] aptly by Metal and Colours are represented the minds of the Bearers; God having cemented the minds of men (saith Plato) with Metals into the Pesant, Iron; into those of Princes, Gold; and into every one else between these he hath infused their Metal proper to their State.

Aridam vocavit Deus terram, that is the Field whereon all other Charges are to be displayed, the most ancient Field being that of Saturn, or the Earth of quality cold and dry, not altering the Coldness as a quality Active, but his Driness as a quality Passive, so that this Field doth become a Souldi­er as well as a Scholar, for many good Scholars make brave Souldiers. To bear Argent and Sable is to be in his own House, and to bear Sable; and OR, is to be in its Exaltation, the one being most fair, with reference to Truth, which doth not love concealment; and the other most Rich, with refe­rence to Nobility, said to be nought else but ancient Riches, which indeed is Occulta Qualitas in the Field of the first Day:

Now the Seminal Form of all things lay round, and con­tracted at first, but spread, when they bring any part of the Creation into Act, as Drops of Rain spread, when they are fallen to the Ground: so that the first Charge that presents it self, is that of Drops, whereof some are of the nature of fire, dissolved onely by the Calcination and Sublimation. O­thers of that of Water, viz. Distillation and Dissolution; that which hath reference to Dissolution is those Drops which are of Water, called Gutta de Eau, of Colour White, seu aqua in lucem condita. It is of heavenly Extraction, and signifieth Di­vine Grace; for Rain, saith one, is the Pledge of Gods fa­vours, and Dew the Symbole of his Grace. Behold, hear the Anvil on which all other Shields are formed: Haec est Mater universalis rerum omnium; quippe in cujus ventre spermata [Page 89] rerum continentur, videlicet Coelorum, Astrorum, Animalium, Vegetabilium, Gemmarum & Metallorum. Heaven and Earth having been in obscurity, behold the Break of Day, and those delightful Colours that play upon the Water, a Day which having first received the Light, gives glory and splendour to all Days. Behold this first Figure divided after the manner of the immutable property of Light, which is such, that issu­ing from the Centre, it carries together with it Rectitude. So that it neither knows nor can diffuse it self any otherwise then by right Lines, called Gyrony.

Seraphim

• Thrones
• Dominions
• Virtues
• Powers
• Principalities
• Archangells
• Angells
• Cherubims

The Chro­matism of Drops.

Behold again, that Light not onely illustrateth and revea­leth it self, but is as a Rule, whereby the windings and crookedness of errour may be discovered. In this Figure you have the ingrailed Line of the Earth, the waved Line of the Water, the nebule Line of the Aire, and the indented line of the Fire; in the four Angles thereof you have each charged with a Drop of the Creation. You have the proper [Page 90] Charges of the first Days Nobility in the Hierarchy of An­gels, handled at large in the Sphere of Gentry. And that I may come more particularly to the bearing of Drops, I shall begin

[figure]

with a Drop Sable; Gutta de Poix: it is called Gutta de Poix, or Drops of Pitch. Saturn's cold Star suits with the Pitchy night, this kind of Bearing being suitable to Saturnine men, men of profound thoughts. AR­DORE LIQUESCO is the property of Pitch, and is proper for Monastical persons, or rather a Pe­nitent. But that there should be Drops of Pitch in the Creati­on, may seem to be strange. Nevertheless what was the Black Water other? Tam gluten & connexio omnium Elemen­torum atque elementatorum Palpabilium: and as the Earth doth connect the Matter and the form, so doth every Drop adhere to its first Principle: and as the Globular part thereof shews it to be a Body, and to tend downward: so the pointed or spired part thereof shews the Anima and lively parts ascend­ing upward; as in the Border of the first Letter of this Cha­pter, which is Sable a Border Gutte de Poix: ‘—Piceae flammis alimenta supremis.’

The Funeral Pile among the Romans was erected with Oke and Pitch Trees, as most combustible materials; according to the quality of the Person deceased, according to Virgil, they did struere ingentem pyrum, as it were 4.3.2.1. lessening up­ward its Form, whereas the Pile of Matter terminated in Point.

Argent a Pile waved Gules, issu­ing from the Dexter Corner.

[blazon of arms]

Fire ascends in Flames, and Light de­scends in Beams, descending from the dexter Canton, and signifies persons of clear under­standing, such as Major Generals ought to be, who bear this sign in their Ensigns, MIHI CANDOR AB ALTO; Though the Matter be unmoveable of it self. Dr. Stylle beareth Gutta de Eau distilling, with three White Roses in the Black Field, [Page 91] INFUSSA FAECUNDAT. The Family of Corn­wallis

[figure]

beareth Sable Gutta de Eau, Gutte de Eau. to denote the thankful mind, ACCIPIT ET RED­DIT. or a bountiful Person, OMNIBUS AFFLUENTUR. If you draw water out of Vegetables, CLARESCUET IN FLAMMIS. Such a Bearing denotes also a learned Prea­cher, MIRUM CONGESTA LIQUOREM. In a Pythagorical sense it signifieth the Preexistency of the Soul according to that in Synesius Hymns:

E NUBIBUS ETE MONTIBUS is Grace and Cooperation. All Drops at first came down from above, either in silver Dew or golden Rain. The Cardinal of Turnon used for a sign or Symbol silver Drops, to signifie Manna, and thereby heavenly food, expressing his desire thereby; NON QUAE SVPER TERRAM. And these Bearings of Drops, as Guil [...]am denoteth, doth well become a Souldier of that Christian Legion called Fulminatrix, at whose Prayer, in a great drought, as Eusebius noteth, as the Prayer of Eliah, Heaven was opened. So Sampson being hard bestead for mar­vellous thirst, called on God, and found Fons Invocationis, Water issuing out of the jaw bone of an Ass, wherewith be­fore he had slain one thousand men: so that by the way you may note, that any thing whatever, be it never so simple, is capable of the grace of God: and though Drops to the Vul­gar, may seem to be very mean, yet therein is contained ma­ny miseries. Drope sometimes Mayor of London, bare Gutte and on a Chief a Lion, to denote his Name, as well as Fame, in founding the Aquaduct in Cornhill, communicating those Drops from his Well Head, usually issuing from Lions [Page 92] mouths; and this leads me to the other sort of Drop, viz. that of Gold, which are known by their weight, PON­DVS ABVNDIS. Some Rivers abound with golden Sand, each Drop whereof is Gutte de OR; which is golden Rain, and PENDENT ONVSTAE, Gold being the most digested Metal; therefore every Drop MATVRI­TATE INCLINANTVR; and being understood to be molten, PERFICITVRIGNE. Golden Rain is a fine speculation in artificial Fire-works, which IN TE­NEBRIS LVCET. De stercore aurum colligere, is the work of a prudent Preacher, in the words of Jeremy, PRE­TIOSVM A VILI. It is made liquid by fire, HV­MOR ABIGNE, and may signifie an anxious Lover, whose passions are excellently expressed in these Ver­ses:

Which the Eclogue seems to construe in other Verses, and is rendred in English by Ogilby thus:

FLETVS AERVMNAS LEVAT and are some­times ease to a Martial mind, which often feels the scorching Drops of Loves Flame, according to which in the Argument of the 10. Eclogue of Virgil's Bucolicks:

[Page 93] Jupiter descended on Danae in a golden showre; the Amber Drops that were pressed from the Poplar Trees on the Shield of Thetis, were Gutte de OR:

So the Family of Harbotle beareth three golden Drops, perhaps in affectation of those Amber Drops that dangled from the Tresses of his fair Thetis, being Bend-wise in a field Jupiter, in commemoration of that golden shore that Jove let fall into the Lap of Nature. But methinks I hear the Martial Man calling upon me, You have praised the OR and Argent. But what do you say of the Gutte de Sang? what do you say of noble Blood? To which I answer, That though Nobility may be said to be rather in the Brains then in the Veins, seeing that the Flesh, Bones and Blood of all men are a­like; yet to bear Gutte de Sang is very noble, quia ex guttis sanguinis constant; and to bear OR or Argent so charged, what can it signifie but expence of Blood and Treasure. Sir Tho­mas Player beareth a Bloody Lance, or rather, a pale Gutte de Sang. Adam was of Red Earth, yet was the golden Head. Saturn was of black Aspect, yet lived in the golden

[blazon of arms]

Age. Fitz (signifies a Son, Sable a pale OR Gutte de Sang. & by consequence descended from the first Adam, or Saturn) bare Argent Gutte de Sang a Cross Gules, which beside that most precious Blood that was shed on the Cross, may denote, that as this humour is the Principal whereby the life of all Animals is nourished and conti­nued; so the Son can boast his Nobility no longer then the Blood is continued in its pri­stine purity: and Ancestours adde not to Blood of the De­scendants, but where the Virtue derives; for he hath made of one Blood, saith the Apostle Acts 11.) all nations of men, there­by pointing at their Genealogies, and hath determined the bounds of their habitation, thereby pointing out their distincti­ons, [Page 94] Gentlemen taking their names from their Habitations. Repentance (saith one) is the younger Brother of Innocence, which brings me to those Drops, or humour of the Blood al­so, which for the similitude of Colour are called Gutte de Larmes, or Tears: they are of Colour Azure, and fit for a Jeremia,h one who mourns in secret, a Saint Maur, one whose eyes are as a fountain of Tears, Gutte de Larmes. and so beareth Gutte de Larmes, quia ex Lacrymis Guttis constant. This is a humour sometimes distilling from a magnanimous mind. So 'tis said Cyrus wept when he saw so vast an Army from a Hill, and in so small a time there should be none left. Mary Magdalen's Tears gave Love its perfect Work, INCREMENTA SVIS ACCIPIT A LACRYMIS. Sometimes the Tears of Orphans and oppressed rouz up the magnanimous Lions to revenge the shedders of the Blood of War in peace. Drops of Oyl being the Emblem of peace, are called Gutte de Vert, these being the signs of Industry; for in the first Age some were Gardeners, like Adam; some Husbandmen like, Noah; some Fishermen, like Peter; some made Tents, like Paul, as advised by his inclination or dexterity, [...]r. Fuller History of Abbies. as accounting nothing base that was found beneficial. Some much delighted in ma­king Hives, the true Emblem of a Covent for Order and Indu­stry, wherein the Bees under a Master the Abbot, have seve­ral Cells, and live and labour in a regular Discipline: thus Gutte de Vert is born, according to Virgil;

Hence you may observe the usefulness and commendable­ness of Industry, that makes the Gentleman. Oyl gladdeth the heart of man, and is the Symbol of Consecration, pro­phetically spoken of our Saviour, who was anointed with Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows. So that to anoint Guttatim Drop-meal, by the way of Distillation, id est, FOE CVN­DITATEM [Page 95] INFVNDVNT. The memory of Ja­cob's setting up the Stone he had rested on for a Pillar, and pouring Oyl upon it, and calling it Bethel, was preserved un­der the anointing Stones, which the Phoenicians from Bethel call [...], from whence came the anointing Stones among the Heathen, which Arnobius calls Lubricatum Lapidem, & ex Olivae unguine sordidatum. So that the anointing Stones then with Oyl was the Symbol of Consecration, all Drops in­deed signifying Persons set apart to several Works, DE COELO EXPECTANS PLVVIAM;

The account of Time was anciently by Drops of water in Glasses, called Clepsidrae, Dable Gut­te de Eau [...] 4, 3, 2, 1. whereas those by Sand were called

[blazon of arms]

Clepsammini. They are usually born in Arms, either Sans Number, called Gutte only, or else if they are numbred, they proceed from Ten, viz. 4. 3. 2. 1. which contain virtually all Numbers, Ten being all that rude Mankind told upon his sin­gers; And Arithmeticians discover it by calling them Digits to this Day. They are sometimes born Six, viz. 3. 2. 1. which Number of Six is accounted a per­fect Number, because its parts are equal to it self, viz. the sixth part is one, the third part is two, and the half is three, all which added together make but Six, there being but ten such Numbers betwixt one and 1000000000000. By this it is wonderful to conceive how that there is so few of them. So of perfect men, however the Bearing of Six or Ten of any thing in Arms thus disposed is very good Armoury; for this very cause of perfection, being a sign of perfection of the [Page 96] Bearer. Neither doth this come into the rule of being over­charged; for that Shield that hath no Charge upon it, is ra­ther Aspis then Clypeum; the first Colours being black and white were the very Ornaments of Nature, representing Innocence and Patience, the Field lying undiscovered, till the Light ap­peared as the Metal. And now of thee, O glorious Crea­ture, it may be said, If thou hadst never been, the beauty of the World had been as nothing; as Du Bartas:

The Metal and the Colour being so equally mingled in the first Days Creation, that it might be said to be Day and Night at the same instant of time, which made one say, That the first Darkness was not Loco divisae, sed plane depulsae a luce, ut nusquam essent. And so the first and the most absolute Re­batement

[blazon of arms]

in Heraldry is that we call a Delph Tenne, both of obscure Colour and Extraction, being shut into the middle Point, so as to be severed from all parts; and therefore not to be accounted of. It representeth one that revoketh his Challenge, or eateth his words. It seemeth to be the mouth of the Cave of Time, wherein Truth lay conceal­ed till the Light brought forth the Truth. Some will have the Light of the first Day to be a spiritual Light, and so under this Days Work they comprehend the Creation of Angels, which is the reason, that in the Blazon of such Bearings, I have placed it in the first Day Work, Cherubims heads being born by the Chalinors, and others re­presenting Persons prepared and active in the service of God, or his Countrey. So the last-named Gentleman having been the active Instrument of finding out, and improving of the Alumn Mines in Yorkshire, extracting the Truth of that Soil out of the Delph to his extream care and cost, eserves not to [Page 97] be forgot, but as he beareth Cherubims heads, denoteth them to be ministring Spirits to the service of men; Cherubim ve­ro arcam slexibus ambientes coelestes illas mentes, ac beatos illos Spiritus denotat, qui Divinam Majestatem promptissimae celeri­tatis obsequiis, velutati alato ac veloci ministerio amb [...]unt ac sti­pant. Others will have it a natural and material Light, and so it hath reference to the Metal of Argent; for that Light which at first made all things appear, was no spiritual Light, but such as the same now is in the Globe of the Sun: so that what I have now spoken of here, I may conclude with Saint Austine, Materies adhuc erat corporearum rerum informis, sine Ordine, sine Luce, being an informed matter of corporeal things without Order, without Light, had not the Spirit of God cherished it with Heat and Light. Where the Field was Bordered, it was Gutte and separate; and where it was charged, it was B [...]lliti, as the first Characters and Letters missive of the Almighty, IN TENEBRIS LVCET, is applicable to Magnanimity, Virtue and Prudence, the mount Aetna PROPRIA LVCE REFVLGET, as the Ensign of a mans proper Valour: and the Mount Olympus, NVBES EXCEDIT, as a note of Excellency; the cubical Body of the Earth, SƲO SE PONDERE FIRMAT; and the superficies thereof being but as an Isthmus NEUTRI ADHARENDUM, which if the Bowels thereof be torn up, SAUCIATA FELICI­US. And the next Days Work adds Honour to the first, STABILIS QUE MANENS DAT CUNCTA MOVERE:

CHAP. V.

BLue or Azure is extended as the Firma­ment is, or parted per Chief, Azure a Border OR, Entoyre of eight Heurts. the waters above and below.

Number and Position are two of the first Elements of Arms. This Day the Earth was in Base, and the Firmament in Chief. The first superiour face of the Cube was that of Azure, lying next above the Water, the Seat of Jupiter, who is said to espouse Juno, or the Aire, the upper Re­gion whereof was called Aether, and the lower Aire, and was of the same birth with Dies.

Heaven and Light being the Symbols of the same thing: so Jove and Juno are said to have dominion in the Air, cal­led by some Lux aurea, having in it both Light and Heat; and therefore Jupiter is so called from Juvans Pater. This Chapter is parted per Chief, as it is said in Job, God bindeth up his Waters in thick Clouds, and the Clouds are not rent under them. And in Moses his description it is said, God said, Let [Page 100] there be a Firmament in the midst of the Waters, &c. And God called the Firmament Heaven, which in our Saxon Orthogra­phy signifieth lifted up, or exalted, the Second Day being no less glorious then that wherein God created Light, in which saith one, God chose to raise up, the Firmament like a Globe of Gold and Azure, which might serve to divide the seven Orbs of the Planets from the Imperial Heaven, disposing in every Annulet a solid corporeal Gem, this Day being the Creation of corporeal Matter, the Charge whereof was Roundells, being more or less noble according to the Bodies they represent, every Rundle this Day representing a Cressant, being inlightened but in part, and so it becomes the diffe­rence for the second Brother, as this is the second Day, be­ing receptaculum tam lucis quam tenebrarum. I have chose to put every Roundle in its Field. And because Light was made by God worthy of the chief Praise, not because it is beauti­full in it self, but because every thing it seeth it makes beau­tiful. I have parted this Scheme in Chief as the principal seat of the Intellect, divided by a several Line of plain flecked, Ne­bule, Wavy, Ingrailed, Crenele, Invecked, Indented.

Partisions per Chief.

• Flecked
• Nebule
• Wavy
• Ingrayled
• Crenelle
• Invecked
• Dancette
• Maine Chief

[Page 101]Now as every one of these Lines differ from one another, as the several Passions of the soul, so are they more or less in esteem; and though the Brain hath no sense, as Cassidore affirmeth; yet for that the Nerves, as so many several Lines, are fixed in it, and from it receive the Spirits for the noblest operations of the Soul, sensum membris reliquis tradit. I shall therefore note to you by the way how every Line is as a Beam in the great Chamber of Heaven, and every Charge is as a Gem in the Imperial Crown of the Almighty, qui fecit lapidem angularem; and seeing numeri & figurae notant Ideas rerum, I shall proceed to the Round Form, representing Do­minion; therefore born by Kings in the Mound, signifying his own Orb:

By the Battelled Line the Aegyptians did signifie the Bat­tlements of Heaven, which compasseth about the Scheme, representing Discretions Arch:

The Element of Fire being the most superiour Element, by the Nebule Line the Air, and by the Waved Line the Water, and by the Ingrailed Line the Earth. Now for the Charge of this Day, being either Anulets or Globes, the Horizon being an Anulet Sable; the Zodiack is an Anulet OR, and the Meri­dian Azure, every Ball differing in Colour, having a different Name. Kercher delivers it as an Axiom, That Lux Colores il­lustrans, undique repercutitur, & Colores illustrati radiant in Orbem, ut Lux ipsa, utpote Correlativa, the Round Form being the most perfect Form in the World, signifying Heaven and [Page 102]

[figure]

Eternity, VINCENTI DABO CAL­CULUMALBUM. Plates. The Silver comes out of the Fire as a pure Plate, having no impres­sion thereon but the purity thereof, which qua­lity was diffused through the whole Heavens. It is called a Plate, because it is a piece unstamped, God ha­ving said, Let there be a Firmament, hoc est, coelestis Campus, the Field of Jupiter being the pure Air:

The Silver having this property, NON LAEDITVR SED PROBATVR; and the Pila alba signifieth Rem probatam. The Aegyptians to express their Eneph or Creatour of the World, described an old man in a blue Mantle, with an Egge in his Mouth, which was the Emblem of the world, every Roundle in Gods hand being yet imperfect, Sicut Mone­ta est informis, donec imago Regis ei per Cuneum imprimatur: ita ratio nostra deformis est, donec per Gratiam Dei illustretur. Plates signifying one of a clear Conscience, SI DESIT OMNIA NIHIL. This Day had three conspicuous Globes, Heaven, Earth and Sea:

Money, saith Solomon, answereth all things; and Penney of Hartfordshire bare three in his Girdle. And though Silver of it self, QUIES CENDO NIGRESCIT, which every one hath experience of, even in the displaying of his Arms; yet being in use, PVRVM CANDESCIT, by adding a Number to a Cypher you may make of it what you will, and of a Plate you may make a Penny, IMPRI­MOR ET VALEO, Argent three penny yard Pence, is born by the Name of Spence, this having an impression there­on. [Page 103] The Mussards or Delayers (as Cambden defineth them, might well bear three Plates in signification, they were loth to part with their money, or else to speak for them, NUL­LA VIS CONTRA: and indeed without it in humane Policy INDEBELITVR. So that Plates in Chief are

[figure]

of more prevalency then Gustons, Ogresses Pellets Gunstons. though in­deed they are FIRMIVS ADOPVS, and are fit Bearings for a Souldier, because OBDVRES CIT; for Ogresses are form­ed of Iron, and represents a man made mallea­ble IN QVASCVNQVE FORMAS, even a Gown-man may bear Pellets: ‘Ardeat Orator si vult incendere Plebem.’

And the Emperour speaking of the Benefit of Advocates, saith thus: Advocates which break the doubtful fates of Causes; and with the strength of their defence, sundry­times, as well in publick Causes, as in private, raise up those that are fallen, and relieve those which are weary, do no less good unto Mankind, then if by War or Wounds, they saved their Parents or Countrey; For we (saith he) do not count that they onely do war for our Empire, which we do labour with Sword, and Shield, and Target, but also our Advocates; for indeed the Advocates or Patrons of Causes do war, who by confidence of their glorious Voice do defend the Hope, Life, and Posterity of such as be in danger: and thereupon cometh that distinction of Castrense peculium, & quasi castren­se peculium, signifying thereby, that albeit Counsellors to the State, Lawyers, and such like, be not actual Warriours, yet they are representative Warriours, and do no less serve the Commonwealth then they: the Souldier riseth betimes in the Morning, that he may go forth to his exploit, The Ad­vocate, that he may provide for his Clients Cause: he wakes by the Trumpet, the other by the Cock: he ordereth the Bat­tail, the other his Clients Business: he taketh care his Tents [Page 104] be not taken, the other that his Client's Cause be not over­thrown. So then either of them is a Warriour; the one abroad in the Field, the other at Home in the City. How va­lid

[blazon of arms]

are the ten Plates in Sir Orlando Bridge­man's Coat, Sable ten Plates, 4, 3, 2, 1. on a Chief Argent a Li [...] passant of the first. when the Stamp of the Kings Authority hath made him as a Lion in Chief, to defend the Cause of the Poor, he being Lord Chief Justice of the Com­mon Pleas! The bearing of Ogresses came in request about the time of King Henry the Fifth; for when the Dolphin of France sent him in derision to his Youth a Tun of tennis Balls, Argent six Gu [...]stons 3, 2, 1. as fitter to play with, then to manage Arms,

[blazon of arms]

he promised by an Oath that it should not be long ere he would toss such Iron Balls among them, that the best Arms in France should not be able to hold a Racket to re­turn them. The Cabalists say, Deus Legem suam in Globum igneum conscripserit per ig­nem fuscum super ignem candidum. So to David the Law of God was more pure then the fine Gold, which RVBIGI­NIS

[figure]

EXPERS, Bezants. the Beazant having in it the Original Talent of all other Metals, which though none knows that of another, yet this in actual accomplishments may be anothers Supe­riour; and yet the other may have made a more proportioned improvement, and so be accounted more generous and worthy. And so the Plate may be preferred before the Bezant, having much more of actual accomplish­ment in its Harmony. And though the second Day is said not to be blessed, because it carried with it divisibility, two being an even Number, and therefore feminine, whereas one or an odde Number carries with it indivisibility, and impas­sibility, and activity; yet this Day adding visible Charges, [Page 105] became as Augmentations of Honour, every Day tending to a more proportionable improvement:

The golden Ball was esteemed the inestimable price of Beauty: the giving away thereof from Juno was one of the main Causes why she hated the Trojans, being cast in the contention of Beauty in the judgement of Paris, Pryam's Son. Bezants being the Emblems of Perfection, as well for their Matter as Form, which NVNQVAM JACET, while it is moved AGILITATE ET PONDE­RE, it argueth a constant mind in an unstable condition; for every Roundle STAT DVM VOLVITVR; and therefore are called Roundles, when they are counterchanged, EXCITO DVM EXCITOR, and so is propound­ed for an example, The words of the Wise are as Apples of Gold (IN PVNCTO) in tables of Silver; and being once spoken, CVRRIT NON CADIT. It signifies one that is the same he seems for, QUO QVO VER­TAS; for Bezants are the Revenues that diminish not with use, nor consume with time, being always in the same esteem and equally beneficial. It is an Argument of Trust, and de­noteth a faithful Person: he that was faithful in one Talent, was made Lord of all; for such a Cause perhaps it was that Pitts Teller of the Exchequer, bare a Fess Checky between three Bezants, to denote both his Office and Fidelity; it represent­eth also Faith:

[Page 106]It signifieth also Tribunos aerarii, or Martial Treasurers, which did receive the Souldiers Pay, and takes its Denomi­nation from Bizantium, where it had its first impression. It is said to weigh one hundred and four pounds, two ounces, and yet SVA PONDERA NESCIT. It is formed Round NON VNO ICTU, denoting perseverance, VSQVE PERFICITUR, the most eminet Name of Zouch being rewarded with a Canton Ermine, as an Euge boni servi, for the improvement of a single Talent unto ten, William Mortimer taking the Name of la Zouch, in testimony of favours received from the Lord Zouch of Ashbye, his Name denoting him to be of an ancient Stock, and so Ex bono Nomi­ne oritur b na praesumptio. Byfield beareth five Bezants, and a Chief OR, to denote his Prudence that sold all to purchase the Field, man himself being no otherwise then Pyroboli, a Ball of active fire; or if you will, a Ball of Red Earth,

[figure]

SEMPFR IDEM, Torteauxes, are red Balls. fetching his Original from Clay hardned by fire; so Job saith, Thou hast curdled me as milk. This sort of Red Roundle being derived from Placenta, which is rendred by Pliny Libum farinaceum caseo addito, and signifies Plenty, and is called in French Torteau; quaere if it were not the occasion of the Arms of Wake, bearing three in Chief, either as a thin Cake, used in Sacrifices or Vigils, or of one made of Honey, Meal, and Oyl at the time of Wakes, reique frumentariae copiam significare aiunt, according to Sir Henry Spelman. Sed quid (saith he) Rubeus Color flavae Cereris; where­as it may serve as a reason both for the Bearing and the Co­lour, in what the learned Hermanus Hugo de prima scribendi origine saith in the Chapter De occulta literarum missione, that among other things, which by reason of the occult materials, they had wont to include Military Letters in, this was one way of sending in Cakes; his words, are these, Placentae plum­beam Epistolam inseruit Polycrete capta a Drogneto Duce Erythraeorum, misit (que) ad fratres suos. Or it may be a fit Bear­ing for Graduates at the Vniversity, or Houses of Law, who [Page 107] use to stain their Cakes of Bread as their Trenchers, groun­ded perhaps on that of Aeneas, who had arrived at the Land designed for him by the Oracle; he took it as a certain sign of the end of all his Travels, being sate down on the Banks of Tyber:

Whereby they become coloured with the juice of the Grape:

Aeneas taking of the words, remembers what his Father Anchises had long before told him:

So that it denoteth rest from labour and travail, and signi­fieth Courtiers. This Bearing came most in use with us about the time of King Henry the Sixth, yet born by Courtney long before. In a Military Consideration it may be called a Torteaux, from Torqueo, to be bowed as a Granado, carry­ing fire; and so being Orbes Rubri, were used ad terrorem; for as White was anciently a note of Absolution, and Black Balls of Condemnation: So the Colour of Red was used by Martial men, TERRORQUE TIMORQUE, Sir [Page 108]

[blazon of arms]

Thomas Bloudworth, Argent three Barrs Sable in Chief, as many Torte­auxes, all within a Border Er­min. bearing three in Chief, and a Border Ermine. The Red struck ter­rour and fear into their Enemies, which made it esteemed the onely Martial Co­lour, though the Green Field is the Mili­tary Mans Bed; yet by reason he is not to take his rest there. It is counted the lowest Colour. The Azure Ball being the next we are to treat of is the Colour of Jupiter,

[figure]

whose head if it be opened, Heurts are Blue Balls. DANT VUL­NERA FORMAM; though he receive a Heurt, ANIMVM ACCEN­DAT: For Minerva is the Issue of Jupiter's Brain, and Pallas comes forth armed:

Heurts chiefly signifie Wisdome, as being the Issue of Ju­piter's Brain. Heurts in a Martial Mans Shield are as so ma­ny Scars in his Body, esteemed more Honourable then that Beauty wherewith at first he was adorned. So Menelaus ha­ving received a Hurt (from Pandarus) wherehence;

The Shield of Walmesley seems to have a reference to that [Page 109] Minerva, it being Gules on a Chief Ermine two Heurts, these Blue Balls being as it were the eyes of Minerva; for these whose eyes are of this kind of Aereal Colour, Tanquam Mi­nervae filii, are said to be most ingenious, Unde Minerva Glau­copis dicatur. Hence it is that the Owl is dedicated to her, and signifieth prudent men. Wisdome saith, Ego rotunditatem Coelorum circumivi sola, Ecles. 24. Et in profunditatem Abys­sorum ambulavi, in fluctibus maris, & in tota terra. Marcus Agrippa was honoured with an Azure Banner from Augustus, after a Victory obtained by him in the Sicilian Sea. Again, if you consider the Martial Field, she comes forth armed with a Crystal Shield; for God having made man unarm­ed, gave him therefore a perspicuous understanding and rea­son to arm himself, the Chief representing the most superiour part of Man, the natural power of the inferiour Air being no­thing else but Vita vaporis, which if we follow the common Path by this Line, separating it from the starry Heaven, we may find that the Shield as well as the Air hath three Regi­ons, whereof the highest is exceeding hot, fitly represented by the Chief indented, by reason of its Vicinitude to the fiery Element and Stars, by the force of whose Beam it receiveth heat; and so being charged upon, may signifie one whose active heat hath kindled his undertakings. The second or middle Region, which is always cold, is fitly represented by the Nebule or waved Line; for that as that Region of its own nature would be warmer, were it not cooled by a cold Occasion, by the reflection of the Sun Beams. So this may aptly signifie a Person, whose fortune frowns, and keeps him under, though IN ANGVSTIIS ELEVATVR. The lower Region is something contrary to the former; for it is said to be hot and moist, fitly represented by the ingrailed Line, hot, by reason of the Sun Beams, meeting with the Earth, and moist, by reason of the proper Nature of the Air, being partly indented, and partly waved. And thus very fitly by these Elementary Qualities are signified men of different Qualities, and by each of these Charges is signified mens [Page 110] several Talents, all Meteors being of three sorts, either fiery, watery, or airy, to which Lines are suited in the SPHERE of GENTRY, and are of several fashions, according to diverse disposing of the Matter: so the reward was always suited to the Bearer:

So that here is the just Law of Arms in the Court of Ho­nour, having a Peny of Plate for the just Plaintiff, and a Be­zant of Gold for the just Judge, polished Stones, Torteauxes, Heurts, Pomises, and Gunstons; for in the Shield of Achilles there was two Cities; that of Political Nobility, and that of Martial Ornament, bestowing Military Rewards on Military Persons, and honourable Robes on Persons of civil Endow­ments, Princes and Nobles bearing Ermine, as Ensigns of Ma­gistracy, and Ornaments of Entertainments; and Globes and Mounds as Signs of Government and Conquest.

Other where:

Now if there be any rest unsatisfied, why these Rounds have such different appellations, let him but consider the va­riety of Colours, and those Roundles which are of a Green Co­lour, may fitly represent the fruit of terrestrial Paradise, which was fair to the sight, Pommac [...]s are Green Balls. and it may tempt him to pluck

[figure]

and eat. It is called a Pommace from the French word Pomme; and according to the Aspilogia, Plagas & vibices virides Poma aiunt significare. Our first Father Adam, while he was in Para­dise, saith John Fern, Advocate of Paris, bare Gules, as a sign of Nobleness, till he transgressed the Com­mandment, and then it was charged with a Black Ball, or Ap­ple, to denote the condition of the Bearer: and which, saith he, is the reason that our Predecessours hold it for a general Rule, That Colour upon Colour is false Heraldry, & tales Pilas portare (saith Johannes de Of Guil­ford. Vado aureo) significat, quod portans suam acquisivit substantiam solo labore: and a little farther, Et ubique tres Pilas inveneris, sine aliquis differentiis aliis, dic quod ille qui eas portat, vel suus Antecessor Laborarius erat, which his Successours have acknowledged ever since in that old A­dage:

Military persons conveighed intelligence hidden in Apples, as Hugo testifieth. The Sirname of Smith, beareth three Pom­maces in his Shield, Green being the Colour of Love and Ge­neration, which is attributed to Venus, but must be excited up by the active heat of Vulcan, the Firmament being this Day the Scutum or round Buckler, and the Charge the Ma­lum orbiculatum, that Apple, by which man being in Honour, became like the Beast that perished, who then that he might [Page 113] be armed, had Annuli Loricae, his Shirt of Mails, and betakes himself to his Clypeus, that is, Eo quod clepat totum Corpus, a

[figure]

Shield being part of the Eclipt [...]ck, Gulps are purple Balls having some­thing graven thereon, as Pliny noteth, of which in their Order. But there is yet a Purple Ball, which among the Romans did signifie egregious and famous Senators: but in Aspilogy thus, In Mi­litiam notent ascriptum, in manu enim sicuti & brachio Tyrones ita olim signabant: and those that travel to Jerusalem, bring home a Mark of this Colour to this Day, the Colours in these Bodies, proceeding not so much from the Elementary Qua­lities, as in Bodies perfectly mixed, as in Herbs or Stones, but onely by the falling of Light upon Shadow, or Darkness. So making Cressants of several Colours, di [...]fering according to the composure of the Cloud or Air. Some are White, when the matter it consisteth of is very subtile. Some yellowish, when more thick, as may be seen by the Scheme of Colours. Some Black, when very thick. And some Greenish, when more watery then ordinary. And thus the Armiloger may by a diligent Observation of these Colours, as easily judge of the disposition of the first Bearer, Chremotisme of Cressants. and with as much certainty as Astronomers may judge of fair or foul Weather, all Roundles signifying Mutability, Non uno stant fata loco in mente omnia circum.

And see, ‘—Queis sunt humanum terrestria curae.’

The Naturalist doth attribute to the Second Days Work, the appearances of many Suns, and fiery Pillars, and Beams, and Rainbows, &c. But because they are effects of the fourth Days Work, I shall refer them thither, onely by the way note this [Page 113] as of the Chief, as of a chief Commander. It representeth Dignity, ELEVOR UT FULGEAM. If there be an Augmentation in Chief, the Sun draws up the Cloud, QUIA RESPEXIT, and if it breaks forth into Beams, DIS­SOLVAR UT SOLVAM. If the Field or Chief be enlightened by Sun or Star, 'tis by grace and fa­vour, SPLENDOR EX ME. If with Roun­dles, it representeth innocence, IN ALTIS HABI­TAT; those of the pure Element of Fire representing gene­rosity, OPES, NON ANIMUM: for the noble mind is like the Snow Ball, DUM AGITUR, AUGE­TUR. And to bear Plates or Bezants is the two marks which Machivel propounds, viz. Riches and Glory: which as Sir Walter Raleigh saith, Whoever will shoot at, must set on, and take off an iron Back to a weak woodden Bow, that it may fit both the strong and the feeble: for the weak in counsel have often as good success as those of the best judgement, as may be seen by the judgement of Paris, which gave the golden Ball to Venus rather then Pallas. So that though Honour and Ri­ches differ in themselves: yet round Forms are attributed to Wisdome and Fortune, whereof Athenaeus:

In the first three Days God gave every thing its proper Form; that of Levity, to that ascended; and to that which descended the Form of Gravity, in separating Light from Darkness, dividing Waters from Waters, and gathering the Waters under the Firmament into one Field or Place: so that the Chief became exalted by an extended distance and space, as the Waters above us are more solid and condense. But how the first Matter should be Subjectum F [...]rmarum, which is un­derstood to precede the Form, is hard to be understood; only it may be said, that originally there is no more difference be­twixt [Page 114] Matter and Form, then between heat and fire. Hence it

[blazon of arms]

is that where Roundles are divided, Parly per Bend Ar­gent and Sa­ble 3 Roun­dles in Bend counterchan­ged. it sig­nifieth a conjunction of both, and is the same of Proteus (or the first Matter) that could change himself into all shapes, wheerby is signified his crafty head, as Jupiter is said to be transformed into showres of Gold, Eagles, Bulls, Birds, and Beasts. So Roundles are often transformed by Girons, making as it were so many Rombs or points of the Compass on the Globe. So those that bare Letters were called Gerones, A gerendis Epistolis, every Line representing a several high Way through the whole Field of Nature: and so Gerony was a fit Bearing for the Foresters of Flanders, wherein the Shield in the midst represents the head City thereof: and the several dissections shew Minerva, Mille Dea est operum. And now by this Days Work we find be­nefit of Light, Lux naturae primogenea qualitas omnia in actum deducens:

Proportion attracting the eyes, and Colour delighting the Fancy, the Metal giving the lively motion by its bright eye, and the Line the orderly disposition of every good Coat: and where the Charge hath a suitable invention, it both allures the mind, and charms the senses of the Bearer to do nought but noble:

Sable 3 Be­zants be­tween as many Billets Argent.

[blazon of arms]

Now if you compare the square Fi­gure with the Round, you shall find that Billets being right-angled are the Emblems of Constancy and Equity: and Round Forms, as being the most perfect Figure, represents Wisdome:

CHAP. VI.

GUles was the proper illumination of the third Days Work, Gules a Border OR Verdey of Trefoils Vert. and the Partition was Party per pale Colour and Metal. Though it be hard to know the disposition of the first three Days Work, which was before the Creation of the Sun; yet by the Creation of Light, there was a manifest division of the Field per pale, whereby the Waters were commanded into one place. So that the Field of this Day consisted of dry Land and Sea; and in the last three Days God adorned, beautified and replenished the World, setting in the Firmament of Heaven the Sun, Moon, and Stars, filling the Earth with Beasts, the Air with Fowl, and the Sea with Fish, giving to Creatures Vegetative and growing their seeds in themselves, of all which in their Order. And having already seen the dry Land, parted by Springs and Rivers, Lines and Ordinaries, which are called Honourable; for that like Royal Rivers they have navigable Fountains; Come I now to the Earth, is it is adorned with all manner of Plants, with the plenty and pleasure thereof, which by the virtue of Gods command, INCULTA SYLVESCIT.

Grass.The first thing that represents it self to the eye, as a Charge, is Grass, and is born by Til ssey of Lancashire; and that it is a good Bearing, you have the Testimony of Sacred Writ, And God saw that it was good: this Bearing represent­ing Humility, as the Grass is trodden down and neglected, yet is advanced to crown even the temples of Caesar. How often have we seen, that from neglected seed hath sprung up many great Palms! though the Thunder of an evil Tongue no Laurel can resist, nor greatness of Merit exempt, which made Scipio Africanus change his Profession of Warriour to Hus­bandman; and with the self-same hand which in the parching sand of Africa, he had planted glorious Palms of Victory, he did cultivate a little Farm, the noble Romans accounting it an honour to be called Lentulus, Piso, Fabius, &c. from flow­ers and fruits, answerable to which we have Lilly, Rose, Pear, Nut, &c. whose Arms declare their Names. Pliny was of opinion, that Nature before she set her self to make the Lilly, did prepare her self as it were by making the rough Draught and Model Convolunce, a white and simple flower.

Leaves. IN UMBRAM ERIGITUR, is the Trefoils Motto, and Trefoils are the Heralds of the Spring, and stand upright before a storm, Leaves ushering in Blossoms, and Blossoms falling with a happy end, do knit in Fruit. What then is signified by it, but hopeful Youth, promising Fruit; or industrious Old Age gathering into the Barn, Green Tre­foils being the Emblems of Expectation, and White of Fruiti­on? for if you look but upon the decoction of Simples, which bear the visible Colours of Bodies decocted, how dead and invalid they are without the commixture of Allom, [Page 119] Argal, and the like; You may learn how without life every Colour is without a Metal. Turton beareth ten Trefoils Vert, 4, 3, 2, 1. with a Canton Gules, as a reward of his labour; and Mandevil bears three Argent in a Chief indented, as ha­ving reposed himself after all his Travels. Champion bears

[blazon of arms]

three, in token of Victory, because it is al­ways found so. Sable u Cheveron between 3 Trefoils, OR. Mead beareth the same Herb, as a Token of the Latine name cal­led Medica, because it was first brought into Greece by the Medes, the Britains being so called from Scurvygrass. Sir John Lewis of Marr, Knight and Baronet, beareth a Cheveron between 3 Trefoils. The Name of Hervy bears three Trefoils on a triumphal Belt, I mean a Bend and Palmer on the same, to shew they went out Pilgrims, returned Palmers. And look what variety of Colours the spirits of Salt-peeter will project from the like spirits of the Earth, from whence per­haps the Plants thereof acquire their Verdure; So look how many different Spirits there are in the world, you will not wonder why there should be Blue, Red, White or Yellow Tre­foils: for as Naturalists observe, Cinaber becomes Red by the acid Exhalation of Sulphur, which otherwise represents a pure White; So Martial Spirits being sulphurated, produce the Grass to become Red, and is like Spirit of Salt upon Blue Paper, making an Orient Colour, even as Tarter or Vitreol upon an infusion of Violets affords a delightful Crimson; though the Field of this Day be Gules; yet

[Page 120]For though by Mars or Arms which is all one, is repre­sented vis impulsiva vigor, yet how many Souldiers have been as it were the Delight of Mankind? & it is possible for a man to discover a correspondence between the Agent and the Patient, betwixt the Figure and the Form of each Individu­um. So that a learned Herald may by ratiocination easily dis­cern both a substantial and figurative similitude betwixt the Agent and the Patient (the Bearer and the Bearing) in all things that operate one upon another. Whence doth arise an Analogical Signature, determined by figure, how much

[blazon of arms]

may be picked out from the Cinquefoil or five-leaved Grass; Or a Cinque foil Sable. if you read Dr. Browns Cyrus his Garden, or Quincunx, they are the Muses Livery, and will never be for­got in Oxford, while they pray for All Souls, the Founder whereof was Henry Chichley, Archbishop of Canterbury, and bare OR a Cheveron between three Cinque Foils Gules; and as they are admonished of Heroical Actions by several Heroes being turned into Flow­ers; So also they are advised to begin betimes; they were called [...] by the Greeks which did obtain. And among the Romans Hortensius sounded as Gardiner:

Pythagoras forbad the use of Beans, onely to hint to his Scholars to avoid ambition for Magistracy: though the man that sits on the Banks of Flowers in peace, may prepare his Shield, as in the Coat of Sir Thomas Chambrelan, being a white Escoutcheon within an Orle of Cinquefoils, according to Virgil's Advice:

NOCTIS NON DEFICIT HUMOR, is the Glory of Generosity, the Semper vive, DUM OPPRIMI­TUR CRESGIT. The Burrage is a Blue Cinquefoil, ET FERT GAUDIA CORDI. While the Narcissus is of golden Colour, and signifieth beautiful Youth. Sedges is born in Arms by the Name of Sickes. and Sylvanus.

The noble Plantagenet is a Caterfoil, Caterfoils. which HIEME FLORET, and is born by the noble Duke of Albemarle, as a Slip of the same Plant which Scotland tried IN DIE FRIGORIS, his fidelity being still verdant, DUM CAETERA LANGUENT; yea at such a time, VT REMOTISSIMO SOLE, And though Honour like a Flower, BREVIS EST VSVS, yet the remembrance of his Name, like the lovely Amaranthus, NVNQVAM LANGVESCIT. The Cinquefoil is the Gillyflower of Heraldry, IN QVOSCVNQVE COLORES. Cinquefoils. If it be Metal, FVLCIT ET ORNAT. Salts are the Colours of all Bodies, whence they receive their Degrees of Lustre or Obscurity. All Flowers are Emblems of this mor­tal Life, STATIM LANGVENT, while some Leaves are notwithstanding Symbols of Immortality, FO­LIVM EJVS NON DEFLVIT. And what Lau­rel leaves signifie 'tis plain, VINCENTI DABI­TVR. Augustus and Germanicus, Titus and Adrian, Antonius Philosophus, Alexander, Constantine and Theodosius were all crowned with a double Lawrel, as Sages and as Emperours, Chaplets being always signs of Mastership; Chaplets. and therefore to [Page 122] this Day are Masters of Societies elected by Laurel Chaplets about their Brows, Laurel. the crowning of Sages and Poets proceed­ing from a kind of Example of it, which was under the old Roman Emperours, the giving of Crowns of Laurel to them as the Ensigns of Degrees of Mastership in Poetry, and that by Imperial Authority, either by the Emperours themselves, or by Counts, Palatines, or others, having such delegate Authority, having continued ever since the time of Frederick the First, with Laurel, a Ring also being given them, as in the Letters Testimonial of Reasner, and Jacobus Grasserus, both Counts Palatine to Michael Bartchios Julii 8. 1618. Imperiali authoritate fronti ejus ingeniosissimae Lauream Poeticam imposuimus, Crowning of Poets. & dextram in diviniore hac Poeseos har­monia exercitatissimam annulo aureo exornavimus. And in those of Reasner to Casparus Wagnerus Decemb. 29. 1593. Te per Laurus impositionem & annuli traditionem Poetam Laurea­tum fecimus. And as Mr. Selden farther observeth, as from the use of the old Empire, the latter took their Example of Crowning with Laurel, being anciently received into England. John Skelton had the title of Laureat under Henry the Eighth. And at the same time Robert Whittington called himself Gram­maticae Magister & Protovates Angliae in florentissima Oxoni­ensi Academia Laureatus. And under Edward the Fourth John Kay, by the title of his humble Poet Laureat, dedicateth to him the Siege of Rhodes in Prose, the custome of Crowning Poets continuing unto the time of Theodosius, as it is observed upon Ausonius, who lived then and writes:

Corona Olympica denoting here the Quercus Capitolina, or Crown of Oke, or Tarpeia Quercus, as Martial long before called it in that to Collinus:

The Name of Moorwood beareth an Oke-tree, Acorns. in significati­on of his Name, every Acorn MAXIMAM FACIT. And where it is born by the Name of Wood, PONDERE FIXASVO. Did ever any Roman merit this Garland, 'twas for that SERVANTI CIVEM. L. Siccius Dentatus obtained 14. of this sort, 8. of beaten gold, and 3. mural.

The Olive Branch was the Emblem of Peace ever since the Doves return to the Ark; and it is sacred to Mi­nerva:

RAMVMQVE PRECANTIS MINERVA. Heralds Rods. The Cadduces and Rods of the Greeks were made of Olive Branches, and that of the Romans of Vervine. John Gower in the time of Richard the Second, lies buried in St. Mary Overs Church, hath his Statue crowned with Ivy mixt with Roses, Duplici nota insignem, Bale cent. 7 Scrip. 23. nempe aurea torque & haederacea Corona Rosis interserta, illud militis, hoc Poetae Ornamentum. Perhaps the Name of Nithingale beareth the Rose, as a sign of Knight­hood, and parted of York and Lancaster, in having been a faith­ful servant to both Houses, or to King Henry the Seventh, in whom they were united (and so the Field is honoured with Er­mine) in faithfulness and charity. Hulling beareth a Rose within a Chaplet, perhaps in imitation of that frequent Speech of Cicero:

Gules three Crowns, and on a Chief OR, three Lau­rel leaves proper.

[blazon of arms]

And he was saluted by Pliny the Elder: Hail thou (quoth he) that first deservest a Triumph for the Gown, and a Garland for thy Tongue, which salutation I cannot but give to Sir John Berkenhead, Knight and Doctor of Law, and Master of the Facul­ties, and one of the Masters of Request, having his Temples crowned in Chief for his Mastership in the Gown, and the three Crowns in the Field for his knowledge in those Faculties, which (as Dr. Fuller saith) are signified by the three Crowns in Oxford Arms, viz. Grammar, Philosophy, and Divini­ty, the three Professions which King Alfred there founded.

The Rose.

[rose]

The Rose is an honourable Bearing, First, Because Amicus Bellatoribus quippe aculeis, quasi telis armata, & veluti cruore perfusa. Under the Rose be it spoken, is as much as be secret in Counsel, and so it is the Symbol of Taciturnity and honest Actions, it being an Enemy to the impure Swine, and the filthy Dung-flie. And so it was aptly given to Noah Bridge Clerk of the Parliament to the late King at Oxford, the Kings Majesty having given power to the King of Arms to confer any of his Royal Badges in re­muneration of fidelity, according to the Example of his Royal Progenitors. So Harding had a Rose and two Flower-de-liz na Canton sinister, in memory of his fidelity to the King his [Page 125] Master. And his Majesty that now is hath conferred a Rose and Crown on his Master Cook, who is of the Name of Sawyer, and beareth a Cheveron between three Wood-peckers, with Analogy to his Name: the Chancellor of the Garter, the Judges of Law, the Kings of Arms, Esquires, &c. all of them bearing the Roses in their Col.er of S. S. may be said to be NON SEMPER NEGLECTA, and is the Emblem of the Martyrs.

[blazon of arms]

The Lilly of Virginity, Azure a Flower de liz Argent. and the Saffron of Con­fessours: and so the Church is as a Garden of Flowers, representing several Graces, & among the rest, Saltem Lillia suavissimi sunt flores, ae prae aliis grati, vel ideo, quia col [...]re atque odore suo delectant, absque metu vel periculo injuriae, eo­que etiam superant Spinus, obsitas Rosas, and are all three born in our Sovereigns Badges. 'Tis called the Flower of Juno, and is the Symbol of Hope, because it had its Original from Heaven, and is the Arms of France, joined with Eng­land, INSCRIPTVS NOMINA REGIS. Ed­mond of Langley was the first that took the white Rose, and John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the red, The Red and the White Rose. as being born before his time by Edmond Crowchback, second Son to King Henry the Third, who was first Earl of Lancaster, and King Henry the Seventh united both. And so in that Match, REDO­LET ET SANAT, King Edward the Third being the first that joined the Lilly and the Rose, uniting England and France COMMVNE NOMEN VTRIQVE. And King James joining the Thistle to the Rose, it was FORTITUDO ET DECOR. So that you see Flowers represent virtuous persons, SEMPER SUA­VE. The Rose is Mercy and Justice, CUM LENITA­TE ASPERITAS. The Lilly of the Church Militant, HUMILIBUS DAT GRATIAM. The Rose of the State Political, TUENTUR HONORES QUOS SOCIANT. But now to shew you the other [Page 118] Atchievements of Mars that charge the Fields of this Days Work:

Garlands.Where there was a collective number of Flowers, and bound up in Garlands, it was to denote Excellency, ELE­CTUS EX MILLIBUS, and were rewards of Ge­nerals of Armies, EX UNIONE DECOR; that that was of Oken Boughs, OB CIVES SERVATOS. That of Laurel ALITARTES, Branches being much used among the sacred and solemn Rites of the Aegyptians. The Spring was anciently represented by a Basket of Flowers, the Summer by Ears of Corn, the Autumn by a Cornucopia of Fruit, and the Winter by a naked Tree. You shall see the Coat Armour of Spring dapled with Cinquefoils; that of Sum­mer being a Green Field girt with a Girdle, or silver Rivulet, to adde to the pleasure of the same. Autumn hath its part in the Coats of Apletons, and Winter in that of Blackstock, who beareth three starved Branches. These being Emblems of mor­tal life; for Youth like Flowers flourish, yet STATIM LANGUENT, according to Saint Ambrose, Hodie videas Adolescentem validum, pubescentem atatis virtute, florentem grata specie, suavi colore; crastina die tibi facie & ore mutatus occurret. So David in the 103. Psalm, thus saith, Totus splen­dor generis humani, honores, potestates, divitiae, minae, tumores, flos foeni est, wherein the Flower of the Grass hath reference to the Leaves of Honours. Ob. 857. We have already spoken of Edolwolf [Page 127] the twentieth Monarch of England bare Ermin on a Bend Sa­ble, three Cinquefoils OR. And since his death Edolph of Kent hath assumed the Coat onely in allusion of Name, Flow­er bearing the Cinquefoil slipped, as Just gathered. The name of Young beareth Roses, as if they should always be young, though Saint Ambrose saith, Momento cuncta praetereunt, & saepe honor abiit antequam venerit, and like the first appearing Blossoms, they scarce appear before they begin not to be. The few Ears of Corn in Lealand's Coat shew, whence he had his Name and Arms, and the Garbs in Otteleys Coat shew the same, neither is the Shield of Achilles wanting:

Denoting the benefits of Peace, and the Plow being no o­ther then the Symbol of a well grounded Peace:

[Page 128] Azure a Garb, OR banded Gules.

[blazon of arms]

Sheaves shewing the Bearers thereof to have yearly Revenues. Weeds indeed EXALTANTVR INANES, while the Corn hath ALTERA VITA and is bound up in Sheaves, in the Coat of Wheatly. And in single Ears, in Eyres Coat, SPEM RENOVATANNI, and is a good Bearing for a Husband­man. And thus Garbs and Fruits of the Earth become honourable Bear­ings: so that the Artist hath expressed the joy of the King, and hath brought the Sceptre to the Mattock. Benedices Coronae anni benignitatis tuae.

So here you may see the Scepter is the sign of Grace and Favour, as well as of Authority and Rule, the Scepter at first being Branches, which as Kercher saith, Symbolum primi nu­trimenti, ut sciat vulgus fructus quidem omnino germinare & augeri, longissimo tempore permanere; se autem accepisse exigu­um vitae tempus, & de causa volunt dari Ramos. So we see rhe Kings Scepter is always flowred, ut semper Augustus. Every peculiar Grain hath its Colour; Grain. the Wheat is OR, when the Rie is Gules: the Barley is Argent, and the Bean Sheaves are Black In Blake's Coat. Kempe signifieth a Combat-fighter, and beareth three Garbs Gold within a Border ingrailed, or a hedge of Thorns, as the Italian word signifieth: and though a Souldiers [...] is in many difficulties, yet he shall be gathered to his Father in a good old age, like a Shock of Corn in his season. Garbs signifie also community, fellowship and forti­tude, which is the reason so many Cheshire Families took [Page 129] Wheat Sheaves, in imitation of Hugh Lupus Earl of Chester in time of the Conquest, and continue those Bearings as Fellow-Souldiers, he holding their Lands by the Sword, as the Conquerour did by the Crown. Alexander Comine King of Scotland bare Garbs, in token of Community. The falling of the Seed is the Emblem of immortal Fame, whose virtue IN FUNERE PERENNITAS; and the first Blossoms of a promising fruit, DABIT IN TEMPORE.

[blazon of arms]

The Pomegranate is the Arms of the Kingdome of Granado, Sable a Pomegra­nate OR sliped Vert. and is born as an Augmentation in the Coat of Sir Henry Guilford, by Fer­dinand King of Spain. So also hath Aston a Canton of a Rose and Pomegra­nate, with reference to England and Spain, for Service done. The Thistle and Rose conjoined in the Coat of Nicholas de Moline, a noble Senatour of Venice, was in reward of his Em­bassage to our late Sovereign King James, as the Union of England and Scotland. Winchester Colledge bears the Lillies, in token of its Founder, who bare three in Chief, and the Bishops thereof bare the Rose in a Garter, as a Royal Placate. King Edward the Third bare for his device a golden Trunk of a Tre [...], in token of Fortitude; for as the Oke is the Eagle, so the Palm is the Phoenix. A­mong the Trees the Greek word Phoenix signifying a Palm Tree, Vir justus ut Phoenix florebit, is rendred by Tertullian a

[blazon of arms]

Palm Tree. The figures of Italus and Prince Sabinus were cut in Cedar, because it was a wood not subject to worm-eating. OR a Palm Tree Vert; Hence Cedro digna locutus was put for worthy to be preserved in writing to [...] posterity, Records being preserved in [...]his Wood: the Oke and Palm being the Emblem of For­titude and Uprightness; PONDERA [Page 130] FIXA SUO is the one, AD OMNIA VTILIS is the other: where the Root is left, HABET SPEM: and where the Trunk is hung with a Shield, SPOLIA­TIS ARMA SVPERSVNT. Trees many times serve NE VIATOR ABERRET. Trees. And 'tis hard if a man know not his own Coat. Burnet beareth three Holly Leaves; and the property of the Tree is, that NOCEN­TIA FVGAT. The Bay Tree is VICTRIX TEM­PORIS. The Orange DILECTAT, SAPIT, NV­TRIT. The Balsom VULNERE VULNERA SANAT. The Cedars DELECTANT ET JU­VANT. The Holm Oke is ROBUR IN ARMIS, three of them being born by Thornholm of Yorkshire, and re­presents a man of Arms. The Cypress is Deaths Emblem, IRREPARABILIS DAMNO. The Quince FRAGANTIA DURAT. The Ivie representeth constant Love, NEQUE MORS SEPARABIT. The Fig Tree SENECTUTE FAECUNDIOR, and represents a profitable Person, and is the Prognosticator of Summer. The Ashes STANT PROCUL AB UMBRA. The Mulberry Tree SERO FLORET, CITO MATURAT. And you know who said, TEMPUS MEUM NON ADVENIT. The Pomegranate SOLUM CORONA CONSPI­CUUM, and is born by the Names of Granger and Gar­diner. It representeth a true Souldier, VULNERA­TA PERFICITVR. Heurts. So that some reckon a Heurt in the former Chapter to be one of these Seeds, or rather a Heurtleberry. However it signifieth a liberal Person, NE­MINE SUA MUNERA CLAUDIT. The Turpentine Tree is the pattern of Patience, ILLAESA SERVATA. The Almond Tree EDULCABI­TUR. The Myrrh is the Emblem of Mercy, EMITTIT SPONTE. 'Tis the Muses Tree, and the Emblem of Poesie, GENIO ET VOLUPTATI. The Nut Tree SUB CORTICE MITIS. The Elm, QUOD [Page 131] OPERIT NUTRIT. The Palm teacheth Perseve­rance, NUNQUAM MUTATA FRONDE. The Peach TRANSLATU PROFICIT. The Pine-apple is a worthy Bearing, HINC FRUCTUS ET ODOR. 'Tis like a profitable Person, SEMPER FERTILIS, abounding in good works. The Partree OBUMBRAT ET RECREAT. The Apple Tree PROTEGIT ET NUTRIT, and MATU­RA

[blazon of arms]

DELIGITUR. The Oke CI­BUM ATQUE SALUTEM. Argent an Oke Tree eradicated Vert fruited OR And he that bears Acorns may know MI­NIMA MAXIMAM FACIT. So Senoke bears seven Acorns, in memory of the small Town that gave him Birth, who came afterwards to be Maior of London. The Willow CEDENDO VINCIT. And the Thorn PUNGENDO STI­MULAT. Some Fruits AETATE MATURANI, and others NIXU GRAVIORE RE SURGUNT. Of which nature are the Sarvices, and the Cork Trees. The Ewe Tree LAEDENTEM LAEDO. The Vine SE­SE SUFFICIT ALTERUM, and gives Fruit to be born both by the names of Vines and Levines, UT A­BUNDANTIUS HABET. It hath a Tincture of Honour, AT SALTEM ILLUSTROR. The Vintners Arms are of old to shew, that in the goodness of Wine, VETUSTATE PROFICIT.

The precious Grapes want neither odour nor fragrancy; and therefore was an Ornament in our Shield:

As if in Blazon he should say, he bore in a Field OR on an Escoutcheon Azure a Vine Branch of the first, between three Bunches of Grapes proper. Neither shall I omit the Olive Tree because Wine and Oyl IN OPORTVNITATE U­TRVMQVE; for the Olive represents a noble soul, VULNERA, NON VERBERA GAVDET. The whole Wood of Trees EXVLAT AESTVS, Woods. and be­ing cut down CEDENDO VINCIT. The Trunk ALIENIS SPOLIIS is proper Valour. Aaron's rod budded, Trunk. INSPERATA FLORET, and is born on the Shekel of the Sanctuary; and ƲNO AVULSO NON DEFICIT ALTER: Stock. and every young Siens of a noble Stock hath HVMOR AB ALIO. Thus ha­ving done with lofty Trees, if we turn our eyes to the lowest Shrubs, amongst Herbs we shall find the Bears foot, DE­PRESSA RESVRGIT. The Jerusalem Rose VIR­TUS HINC MAJOR. Herbs. The Basil QVO MOLLI­US EO SVAVIVS. The Borage, FERT GAV­DIA CORDI. The Maiden hair NVNQVAM MARCESCIT. Capers IN ARIDO VIRET. The Thistle, that Badge of Scotland saith, NEMO ME IMPVNE LACESSIT. The Colwort FRIGO­RE PERFICITVR. Onions NON TEGMINA DFSVNT. Fenecreke FRVCTVM AFFERT IN PATIENTIA. Corn representeth Gratitude, PLVS QVAM ACCEPERIT, and by Gods Bles­sing CRESCIT IN CENTVPLVM. A Mushrom represents humane Life, CITO VANESCIT. The [Page 133] Flax ASPERITATE POLITVM. And Hampson bears three Hemp Breks, as the Emblem of indefatigable la­bour and travel, in bringing to pass things necessary, which FRACTA PERFICITVR. Turnips are some­times born in Arms, as Guilium noteth, and its virtue is, DANT OMNIBVS ESCAM. The Housleek, though it hath no ground to grow on, NON DEFICIT HUMOR: and the Saffron CALCATA VIRE­SCIT. The Goar ET CORTEX AD USUM. Pir­ton beareth three Pears, and so doth Perry; and they that understand English know the reason why. So also doth Ab­bot, but to shew as before how they spent their time in a Cloister. Some were Husbandmen, and some were Gardners. And thus I have brought you safe through the Woods into the open Field, and from thence into the Garden, where APES EXPECTANT, Flowers. and the Flowers therein VIRTU­TEM ET ODORES EMITTUNT. Where also you may see their use, Raro dentur flores nigri & virides, Chromotism of Flowers. quid primum in vegetativa gradum obtinent folia: secundum flores. Hence it is that Green is the first Colour among Plants and Flowers in the Garden of all Colours, DECORANT ET PROSUNT. Some are of that nature, that NUNQUAM LANGUESCUNT, and so represents Perseverance, NEC GELV NEC AESTV: so the Aramanthus. There are other LANGVESCVNT IN VMBRA. So the Tulip. The Gilly-flower, IN QUOSCVNQVE COLORES; and the Gesemine VESPERE FLO­RET. The Hyacinth, ET PALLET ET PLACET. The Flowerdeliz and Rose contend for both COELESTI SEMINE NATA: the one PRESIOSIOR INTVS, the other INTIMIS AVRVM: the one SERVABIT ODOREM, and the other ETIAM RECISA REDOLET, and both representing Perse­verance. The Sun-flowers FLECTENTES ADO­RANT, and is a Bearing for a Divine, VBI AMOR IBI OCVLI. The Indian Flower representeth pious [Page 134] Youth, FLAGRATORIENTE: and the Spanish LVX OBVIA CLAVDET. The Popge PONDE­RE VICTVS: and the Pyony MVLTIPLEX MOX NVLLA.

Minerals.Whereby the precious stones attain their virtue: and to this Days Work is referred Lozengies, Nam omnis Vegetabilium generatio contingit. For by the Lozenge is represented a Cele­stial

[blazon of arms]

Womb: OR a Bend Lozengy Sa­ble. Nam semen primo terrae mandatum, purifactumque pu­latim ad vitam disponitur, quo facto in surculos, folia, flores, mox pro­rumpit. Denique Solis virtute in fructus novos, quo est ultimus Vegita­tionis scopus annuo spacio decoquitur, quem circularem Vegetationis motum haudquaquam, &c. The noble flow­er of the Sun having his seed of Lo­zenge form: and the bearing of Lo­zengies in a mans Shield doth de­note, that Mars nihil aliud est quam vis illa activa res ipsas co­aptans, by whose active heat is stirred up the Powers of Ve­getatives and Minerals; for though the Sun was not created till the fourth Day, yet certum est ignem sub lucis nomine com­prehendi: and so precious stones come to be generated, that of the Lozenge form being born by the Mountagues, and others. What doth it signifie then that the Bearers are men of Business, according to that of Cicero, Quid negotii geritur, in [Page 135] quo ille tot & tales viros desat gat? Fucils born by women, and Mullets by men. The Facil for the bear­ing of the Facil is attributed to the female Sex for the cause

[star]

before, and that of the Pontagon or Mullet form to the Male, as a spur to excite and stir up. It is called in Heraldry a Mullet, but by Naturalists an Astroides, for the form it hath to a Star in Heaven. It is attributed to the third Brother, as the proper Work of the third Day, and it signifieth Prudence, as being the Mullet of bene­volent Jove. It is the Pentalpha on the money of Antiochus Soter (that ancient Antiochus from whom the other Kings of Syria were afterwards called Antioch [...]) who being about to fight against the Galatians, saw in a nocturnal representation Alexander standing by him, who charged him that he should give the word [...] for the Tessera of his Souldiers (the Hic­roglyphick

[blazon of arms]

of which word was a three­fold Triangle, complicated within it self of five equal Lines, touching each other in the point) which when imme­diately he did, and put this Pentagram both in their Shields, and all other Mi­litary Harnasses, he obtained an Admi­ral victory; Antiochus his silver being stamped with this impression with [...] in the intervals, and in the wars of the Emperour, especially those of Constantinople. The Order of Footmen called Propugnatores, bore an Azure Shield border­ed about with Purple, but the middle was Green, made with­in a Pentalph, and all the other space between that and the Lines that limitted that Pentalph was of a Purple. Hence it is observable, that the Mullet is the sign of Safety; and be­ing born at the heel of the Martial man, TRANS­GRESS A JƲVAT; nay more, ETIAM CVR­RENTIBVS APTA. The Order of the Bethelemites which begun An. 1252, wearing a five-pointed Mullet on their Backs, in token of the Star that stood over our Savi­ours [Page 136] Birth-place, since which time we write ANNO SALVTIS, Chromotism of Stones. that Mullet appearing like a spur to the Wise men, EXCITAT ET DIRIGIT. No Gems are perfectly white or black, Quia album & nigrum omnis transparentiae incapaces esse, nevertheless the Diamond and Pearl represent both Colours.

Blazon by precious Stones.The blazon by precious stones began on this Day, wherein the Amber represented a painful Preacher, TRAHAM SI CALEAM: the Asbestos that indures the fire, UNI­CE ET SEMPER. The Loadstone represents Constan­cy, UNDEQUAQUE ADIDEM. Many Wa­ters cannot quench Love, which is of the nature of Camphire NEC EXTINGVITVR. The Carbunckle, that hath many Rayes, CVNCTIS SPLENDIDIOR, and is the Emblem of Charity. The Thunderstone GRANDI­NE CREVIT: and the Coral representeth Modesty, ELATA RVBESCIT. The Whetstone HEBE­TAT ET ACVIT: to blazon by Crystal what doth it si­gnifie but OCCVLTA APPARENTIBVS RE­SPONDENT: by Diamond but SEMPER CON­STANS. By Pearl but VIRTVS EXPOSITA PROBATVR. The Emrald represents the State of the Blessed, NON SATIANS OCVLOS IMPLET: and the Saphire a heavenly Reward PIVM REDDIT: the Jasper represents the Sacred Trinity VNVS SED TRICOLOR: and the Saints are Gods Jewels, and their estimation in PVRITATE PRETIVM. Stone bear­eth to his Arms three flints, ARTE POLITVR: and Dymon bears five Diamonds between three Annulets RA­DIIS ADVERSA REFULGET, IN AVRO NITIDIOR. Some bear Carbunckles, representing Sce­ptres, INTER TENEBROSOS MAGIS LV­CETIS. 'Tis the Sceptre of Pluto, or the God of Riches, for so signifies Lozengies, Mascles, Buckles, Rings, Carbunckles, being Symbols of outward Blessings and Nobleness, God ha­ving given the fairest tincture to the Ruby, and the quickest light to the Diamond.

[Page 137]

Chaplet

Lozenge

Mascle

Buckles

Ring

Escarbuncle

And in infinite Wisdome hath distinguished his Angels, by degrees hath given greater and lesser Lights to Heavenly Bodies, hath made a difference between Beasts and Birds; the Eagle and the Fly, the Cedar and the Shrub: hath also ordained Kings, Dukes, and Leaders of the people, Magi­strates, Judges, and other Degrees among men; and as Ho­nour is left to posterity for a mark and Ensign of the virtue and understanding of their Ancestours, so these Notes are as Symbols of their Nobility. Plato preferring first Bodily Health. Secondly, Form and Beauty. And lastly, Riches, which is not to raise our Buildings out of other mens Ruins, but by our own Atchievements. Chaplets were rewards to the Muses, and Gems to the Graces. The A [...]gyptians, when they erected their Obelisks, made them of several sorts of stones, Et per Pyrei quidem Coloris particulas ignem, per Crystal­linas & Amethystinas Pellucidas aerem, Coeruleam Lympham per Coeruleas, per nigras denique particulas terram. Thus you may see, that as Plants, apt to grow wild, &c. may be by Hus­bandry and cultivating become Noble; So the Seeds of Virtue may by the Art and Husbandry of good Counsel, produce better and more beautiful fruit, then the strength of nature and kind could have done; and the water and the air are the two Elements, whence all Plants do derive their variety of Colour:

CHAP. VII.

OMicron was the Symbol of the Sun among the A gyptians, Sol a Bor­der, Saturn Entoyr of eight Estoil Luna. this Planet dividing the Universe per Bend, as it appeareth quo ad nos. And Drax in his Exposition of the Symbol of the Wheel, saith, That some per­sons made a representation of their actions to others, not onely by Speech, but Sym­bols. So did Joseph understand by the Sun and Moon his Father and Mother, and by the Stars his Brethren, even before he was sold to the Agyp­tians, whose solemn Custome it was to wrap up all their lit­tle knowledge under mystical representations, which were unavoidably charged with two inconveniencies, either obscu­rity or ambiguity, which took not up onely a great deal of time to gather such Symbolical matter. But when they were pitched upon, they were liable to great variety of interpreta­tion, as among the golden Images of their Gods, two Dogs, a Hawk, and an Ibis, by the Dogs some understood the Tro­picks, others the two Hemispheres, by the Hawk some under­stood the Sun, others the Aequinoctial by the Ibis, some the Mo n, others the Zodiack, and what a deal ado (saith my Au­thor) is made about that famous Hieroglyphick of Diospolis, where there was a Child, to express coming into the world, an old man, for going out of it; a Hawk for God, and an Hip­potamus [Page 140] for hatred; all to express this venerable Apophthegme, O ye that come into the world, and that go out of it, God hates impudence: and among their other Hieroglyphicks, Ignis Symbolum est iracundiae, and the Thunderbolt among the Aegy­ptians did signifie fire, sive biponti dominio inferiora: and therefore fire is the Symbol of Royalty, and their great and stupendious Obelisks were called by a name that did sign fie D [...]gitos Solis, they being formed four-square, to denote the four-fold Dominion of the Sun in the Elementary world. They were dedicated also to the Sun, both by the A [...]gyptians and the Phoenicians, with a pointed Vertex, for the Analogy it hath to the Sun-beams, the Kings of Aegypt erecting them in a certain emulation one to exceed the other; Sun, Moon, and Stars then signifie conspicuous persons. So Jacob and Joshua was signified by the Sun in sacred Writ, as Fathers of Fami­lies and Countreys. So that if you will blazon by Planets, see how Sol & Luna perficiunt, Saturnus frigefacit, Jupiter calefacit, Mars siccat, Venus humectat, Mercurius conglutinat. In a word, the Sun is here in the midst of the Planets, as the Soul of the World, according to that Pythagorical saying of Virgil, ani­mating and quickning every thing from the Spirit within, the Sun in this figure, being placed in the midst, which Euri­pides, a Disciple of Anaxagoras, calls Auream Glebam, Plo­tinus Naturae lucernam, Anaxagoras Candefactum Ferrum, ex quo omne gignitur; Orpheus calleth it Vivificum ac aeterni Coeli Oculum, Luminis Fontem: and Heraclitus, Cor Coeli. The Symbolical Names and Arms are those of Bright Day, Cleere, St. Clear, Dyson, Pearson, &c.

[Page 141]

[figure]

♄ Argent a Mullet of six points. ♃ OR an Estoil A­zure. ♂ Argent an Estoil perforated Gules. ☉ Azure the Sun pro­per. ♀ OR an increscent Vert. ☿ OR a de­crescent pur­pure. ☽ Sable a Crescent Argent.

Omnia quae natura, vel arte fiunt, aliqua ratione fiunt, unde opus naturae, opus intelligentiae. The Ancients usually de­scribed the Sun by twelve Beams, and was called by as many Names as its several Operations on inferiour things; The operati­ons of the Sun and Moon. for it was called

• 1. Jupiter, vis penetrativa Vniversi.
• 2. Apollo, vis radiorum calefactiva.
• 3. Pluto, vis effectiva Mineralium.
• 4. Aeolus, vis effectiva Ventorum.
• 5. Mars, vis Bilis excitativa.
• 6. Pan, vis genitalis totius Vniversi.
• [Page 142]7. Neptunus, vis in Naturam humidam.
• Sun.
  8. Aesculapius, vis Solis sulutifera.
• 9. Hercules, vis Solis corroborativa.
• 10. Mercurius, vis attractiva vaporum.
• 11. Bacchus, vis in liquores & vinum concoctiva.
• 12. Saturnus, vis temporum effectiva.

And the Moon also had several Denominations according to her Operations.

• Moon.
  1. Ceres, vis productiva fructuum.
• 2. Luna, vis benevola luminis.
• 3. Flora, vis productiva vegetabilium.
• 4. Diana, vis in Sylvas, feras, arbores.
• 5. Minerva, calor Lunae salutiferus.
• 6. Thetis, vis Lunae in maria omnia humida.
• 7. Hecate, vis Lunae insubterranea.
• 8. Bellona, vis Lunae, Domitrix rerum.
• 9. Proserpina, vis Lunae, herbarum Productrix.
• 10. Juno, vis Lunae, illuminativa Aeris.
• 11. Venus, vis seminalis Lunae.
• 12. Rhaea, omne influxui Solari subjectibile.

By all which, as the Sun is properly masculine, so the Moon is the genuine Symbol of the feminine sex, the Cressant, Incressant, Decressant, fitly represented by that of Pruden­tius:

[Page 143]Thus by Crescents are represented the glory of the Parents, still emulating the clarity of their Sire: Crescents. and by Stars are re­presented magnanimous Sons. The first King of Aegypt, af­ter the death of Moses, was Memphis; he was said to be Vir magni animi, & paternarum traditionum assertor acerrimus, who after he had reigned fourty years, left a Son called Sothis, a name of Mercury among the Aegyptians, that is, the Son of a Star, Mercury being the Symbol of the Element of Air. Nei­ther is it ignoble to bear Black, or Blue, or Red Stars in Arms; for what do they signifie otherwise, then these Plane-Virtues, quae sunt in Archetypo mundi:

• Saturnus, Aequitatis.
• Jupiter, Benevolentiae.
• Mars, Veritatis.
• Venus, Voluptatis.
• Mercurius, Sapientiae.
• Luna, Divitiarum.

This Day produceth the Shield of Vrania, id est, humanae intelligentiae sublimitas; and hitherto is to be referred Bla­zon for great Kings, and Princes, and Nobles. Joseph having married the Daughter of the Priest of Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, where Mitres held his Royal seat, learning there the first Hieroglyphicks, being the very Letters that the A [...]gyptians use themselves, and these indeed are the Characters of the great God, that were made for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years. Kercher delivereth it as his first Axiom in his Ars magna lucis & umbrae, that lux compressa (as in the bo­dy of the Sun) fortior est quam disgregata, & consequenter illu­minat vehementius, longiussque defunditur, for which cause the gold is accounted the most noble Metal, and Sol of all the Pla­nets, imperium sine fine dedit, the fourth Day being the Dies tri­umphalis, to the glory of the Creator. Here you may see Phoe­bum in medio consistere aure a coma fulgentem, & tanquam Regem atque Imperatorem mundi sceptrum tenere, being placed be­tween [Page 144] the first and seventh Day in the Honour point, so that in medio consistit Virtus. The Talismans that derived their vir­tues from the Stars were called by the Jews Davids Bucklers, and the Planetary Deities among the Chaldeans had such re­pute, that they had no other Gods but the Stars, they made Statutes and Images to the golden Sun, and to the Moon sil­ver: so that to blazon the Sun or Moon proper, doth imply the Metals of OR and Argent: and for the rest of the Pla­nets, the Metal dedicated to them, those Images derived an influence from the Stars to which they were erected. Sun-beams. The Palladium of Troy is supposed to be one, Sol efficit ut omnia floreant. Rayes of the Sun represent serenity and tranquillity un­der a gracious Prince. So Edward the Third King of England bare for his device, the Rayes of the Sun dispersing themselves out of a Cloud, as in other places a golden trunk of a Tree, as well to shew the illustriousness of his descent, as the stability of his Stock. Henry the Fourth used also the Sun-beam. The like did Edward the Fourth and Fifth, charged with a white Rose, as the badge of York. The like did Richard the Third, Henry the Seventh, uniting them in the Sun-beams. The like did King Henry the Eighth. And as one saith excellently of man, as he came first out of Gods hand, was the reflection of God himself on a dark Cloud, the Iris of the Deity, the similitude be­ing the same, but the substance different, God having made the Prerogatives of Princes (like that of the Sun, and Moon, and Stars) usually folded up in Mists, and carried in the Clouds, whereby they become superstitiously reverenced, distinctness of apprehension taking off admiration, for Truths clearly un­derstood have not that prevalent influence upon vulgar Spi­rits, as when in shadowed Pictures there is something of ignorance left obscurely, to flutter upon their imagination. Hence it is that more admire the reason of their Bearing, then know the true ground of Blazon by the study of Virtue, the light it self having hitherto been but Lumen informe, quod quar­to die formatum est. And though the Moon by some is called [Page 145]

[crescent]

Occulum sinistrum mundi; yet he that hath but one eye, can see by the light thereof, why Deluna bears a Crescent, and why Sterling bears Stars; and what indeed is signified by this kind of Bear­ing but men who are as the Watchmen of the World? And if you consider quae ordine pulchro exoriuntur, A Crestent. stationem servant, & noctu, voluti excubias agunt, You will find a great deal of reason why they very well become Mili­tary persons. These Bearings in sacred Scripture are called the Host of Heaven. And civil persons are placed over us for our good; they denote solitude and silence, the indivisible com­panions of Study: their work is lucere & ardere, in whom the light is united with the fire, and the heat with the splendor, as Christ said of the great Baptist, Lucerna ardens & lucens; the filii lucis called, as Beda interpreteth, by the illustrious

[white star]

name of Day, An Estoit pierced. Psal. 19. White Stars signifie the fire of a spritely wit. Azure, of a Benevolent na­ture. Gules a Martial Centinel. And Sable a pro­found Person. OR, est dives in omn [...]s. If the Charges of this Day be born on Fess, CON­TENTUS MEDIO: if a Fess between, SEMPER IDEM SVB EODEM: if on a Pale, NVNQVAM DECLINAT: if on a Bend, OBLIQVE ET VBIQVE: if on a Chief, CE­LERES EXPLICATIONIS: if on a Cross, ET LUMEN CIRCVMQVAQVE DIFFVNDVNT. If the Cross be­tween IN FRAGMENTIS INTEGER: if the Sun be born in a Canton, as in Thomson's Coat, IN ORTU TOTUS LUCI­DUS.

In which manner the Sun views Nicholson's Coat, Raleigh's History. and sig­nifies one that is a subordinate Magistrate, the Laws of men binding after the same manner of the Stars: for though Kings and Princes do by their Laws decree, that Thieves or Mur­therers shall suffer death, which though they are duly execu­ted [Page 146] by Magistrates (the Stars of Kings) yet they do not de­prive the Prince of his natural or princely compassion, or pre­rogative. The figur'd sky affords brave Shields in Heraldry for the Conspicuous:

Here is the Hieroglyphicks of the Illustrissemi, the Sun of the Clarissimi, the Moon of the Spectabilissimi, the Stars of the Su­perl-llustrissimi, quibus Coelum coronatum est; here is a Crown both for Ariadne and Thetis:

Orion wearing three Stars in Fess, and as many in Bend, the Bear having two in Chief, called the Gards: And the Cross

[crescent moon]

is a celestial Constellation to bear a Crescent Moon, is something of Sovereignty in it; for 'tis so called from Crescere, Incressant. to increase, and therefore given to younger Sons, as added to the Family. The Dutch Title of Emperour, as Selden noteth, is at this day understood no otherwise then if it came from Augeo, which in the common Notion signifies no otherwise then actually to increase, hence is the Name of Augustus. It were to be prayed for, that the Ottaman Crescent might become Decrescent, and that the Christians Sun might again rise, though it be now darkned:

[Page 147]The Jewish women wore round Tires, like the Moon, as the Prophet Isaiah speaks, As a Bearing that the Land mourned for. And the Agyptians gave Divine Honours to the Sun and Moon under the names of Osirus and Isis, as is testified both by Sa­cred and profane Authors; Mizraim the Son of Cham in the Aegyptian Dialect, being called Mesramuthisin, quasi diceres Mesra, sive Osiri, & Matre Isi genitum. And Plutarch affirm­eth, that the Sun in the Persian Language gave name to Cyrus. And the same Author saith, that the Amazon Women bare Moons like Shields; and Crescents are as genuine a Bearing for Christians, occasioned by purchase in the Holy Land, as any other Ordinary, where the feminine Sex presumed to shew their Lozenge Bearings in that design:

Among the Romans the Crescent was a note of a Senator, because it formed a C, the Character of a Hundred, which the Senate consisted of. And among the Aegyptians it is the Symbol of the Moon: and it were too much for me to shew you how many of our Senate bear Crescents, whereof Hervey bears three in a Chief indented, and so is like to that lively Crown that appears about this Planet:

Azure a Crescent silver by the name of Luce, Quo magis a Phoebo distat soror, hor magis nobis fulget. And therefore is compared by Guiliam to light Huswifes, that are more light when their Husbands are farthest off. It may well be called a Crescent, because A SUPERIORI PARTE LUMINE CA­RET. [Page 148] Minshulls Crescent, MICAT INTER OMNES, because his Predecessor made the Ottoman family bow, to deliver up his Arms. And Vears Mullet that lit on the top of his Lance, which gave light to the Christians to pursue their Victory, is now become Cor Le [...]nis, Fixed Stars. or rather Oculus Tauri. In the first Quarter of his Arms he being a Stars of the first Magnitude, to denote RADIIS VENIET FERVIDIORIBUS: and such is the property of Virtue, IN TENEBRIS MAGIS, and like the Moon, PROXIMITATE DECRESCIT. St Paul desiring to become nothing, that he might come nearer to the Sun of Righ­teousness, and so he became MAJOR QUIA HUMILI­OR. In which sense the Moon is called one of the greater Lights, and is born as a known Badge to the Earl of Nor­thumberland. The three Crescents were said to be the ancient Arms of France. The Moon is like that Star which divides it self into two, ET SEQVITVR ET PRAECVRRIT. So the Coat of Stephen Bright in Yorkshire shews the same Star with a Bend between, and Party per Pale, to signifie VESPERE ET MANE; and whether it shine in the Morning or Evening, it is LUMINE SOLIS. Three Stars make a Constellation, as well as ten, HACITER AD SVPEROS. To bear Mullets or Stars denoteth E COELO SAPERE. And Alston beareth ten Stars OR 4, 3, 2, 1. and in that is like the links of the Chain fast­ned to Jupiter's Chair, the present Bearer whereof Sir Ed­ward Alston, being one of his Majesties Physicians, Sapiens ad­juval

[six-pointed star]

it opus Astrorum, A Star of 6 points. quemadmodum Agricola terrae naturam. And Ptolomy saith, Sapiens, & omina sapientis Medici dominabuntur Astris; a wise man, and the ominous Art of a wise Physician shall prevail against the Stars. Im­mortal Virtue is like that of the Pole, SINE OCCASV FELIX, the Stars representing privy Counsellors, The Lord Roberts, Lord Privy Seal, bears 3 Stars and a Chief iamong the Nobility, Wandring Stars. the three black Stars in Mordant's Coat s like that of Saturn, TARDISSIME VELOX. The white Star, that of Venus, PROXIMA SEMPER. The red one, that [Page 149] of Mars, SEMPER CIRCA SOLEM. The golden one is like the Sun, CƲM LUCE SALUTEM. Chronotism of Stars. That of blue like benevolent Jove, LUCET ET INFLUIT. To conclude, Stars are signifi­cators of military Stratagems, all Writers agreeing, that the taking of Troy was by night, when the silence of the Stars be­came a thousand witnesses: and if God hath given virtue to Springs and Fountains, to cold Earth, to Plants and Stones, Rawleigh's History. Why should we rob the beautiful Stars of their working powers, seeing they are many in number, and of eminent beauty and magnitude? ELEVOR VT FVLGEAM; else the Dog-star had never been placed in Heaven; QVO VOCAT VSQVE SEQVOR; in token of fidelity; DVLCE NITET SEMPER, and is therefore placed upon the Cloaks of the Pears of the Garter; the Sun draws up the Cloud, QVIA RESPE­XIT. And if it breaks forth into Beams, DISSOLVARVI SOLVAM. If the Shield or Field be enlightned by Sun or Star, 'tis by Divine Grace, SPLENDOR EX ME. If with Mullets, that also IN ALTIS HABITAT. Those of the pure Element of fire represent Generosity, OPES NON ANIMVM. The noble mind, DVM AGITVR AVGETVR. Now if we consider that there is but one Sun, and yet in many Coats there is three or four, We shall examine the natural cause thereof, and then you will be satisfied that it is a good Bear­ing. What doth Peirson's Coat seem to signifie then MV­NERIS HOC TVI, the same that it received its multiplica­tion from one Sun? though there appear three in his Shield, Causes of many Suns. whose signification is either natural or supernatural: in their natural signification they betoken moist Weather: in their supernatural they appear as pretenders of changes in States, and may signifie in the first and natural signification men who by their Princes favours are advanced to Nobleness, wherein as one would say, if it rain upon the Prince, it shall drop upon him: and in the second and supernatural signification, it sig­nifieth Competitors, as not long before the contention be­tween Galba, and Otho, and Vitellius for the Empire of Rome, there appeared three Suns, as it were pointing out the strife [Page 150] that followed between them three. As also in the year 1233. on the 7. of April, four Suns appeared, besides the natural, at which time there was much debate stirred up between King Henry the Third, and the Barons of this Kingdom. Also in the year 1440. three Suns appeared, the day before the three Earls of Pembrook, and Wiltshire, and Edward Earl of Marsh fought the great Battail at Mortimer's Cross, which might be the reason of bearing the Cross between four Suns by Wal­tham. And again in the year 1526. three Suns marched out, betokening the three Princes, which strove for the Kingdome of Hungaria, after the slaughter of Lewis the Second. But you may say, these are allusions, but are not rherefore conclusions. To which I answer, that where indeed there is three or four Suns many times in a Shield, yet there can be but one true: so it signifieth no more but a Champion that rejoyceth as a Giant ro run his course. However it is the Emblem of Prin­ces, by reason of the Majestickness of its Beams. For the prin­cipal Significator of Honours is derived from the disposition of Sol, according to Astronomers: and the Bearings of this Day signifie Humanity or Courtesie. As first, that they shine not to themselves, but are profitable to all, being full of Can­dor and Veracity, Truth being the Light. And secondly, ha­ving Concord and Mildness, shining together in a silent Har­mony; for as a wise man is said to govern the Stars, so a ge­nerous mind hath power over himself, and liveth quietly with Fellow-citizens and Chamber-fellows, as these do in the

[blazon of arms]

great Chamber of Heaven, Argent on a Chief Gules two Mul­lets OR. where Saturn is pale as lead, Jupiter bright as Tin, Mars ruddy as Iron, Venus lovely as Copper, and Mercury glittering as Quick-silver; and where the Stars or Mullets are of the Me­tals or Colours of the greater Lights, and in Chief, as in this Coat of St. John, it de­noteth the Nobility of the Bearets, and is the visible Character of their Conspicuousness, shining so much above the Vulgar, with the two most noble Metals of OR and Argent, esteemed with Sol and Luna.

[Page 151]How clear the Stars shine in a dark night, I leave to your own experience; and how they, as all other Bearings, may be varied, I shall give you these examples.

• 1. Sable a Mullet Argent.

  [figure]

• 2. Sable two Mullets in Chief Argent.

  [figure]

• 3. Sable three Mullets perforated or pierced Argent. To bear Mullets perforated, is pro­perly a Spur-rowel, the Planet Mars appearing so.

  [figure]

• 4. Sable three Mullets in Fesse Argent.

  [figure]

• 5. Sable three Mullets in Pale Argent.

  [figure]

• 6. Sable five Mullets perforated in Cross. So likewise are they born in all the Ordinary wayes of an Ordinary, as in Bend in Saltire, &c. and on or between the several Ordinaries you have examples following;

  [figure]

• [Page 152]Argent on a Fesse Sable, three Mullets pier­ced of the Field.

  [figure]

• Argent on a Pale, three Mullets pierced of the First.

  [figure]

• Argent on a Cross, five Mullets perforated of the Field.

  [figure]

• Sable a Fesse between three Mullets Ar­gent.

  [figure]

• Sable a Pale between two Mullets Argent.

  [figure]

• Sable a Cross between four Mullets Argent, perforated of the First.

  [figure]

• [Page 153]Argent on a Bend Sable, three Mullets pierced OR.

  [figure]

• OR on a Bend sinister Sable, three Mullets pierced Argent.

  [figure]

• Argent on a Saltire Sable, five Mullets OR.

  [figure]

• Sable a Bend OR, between two Mullets Argent.

  [figure]

• Sable a Bend sinister OR, between two Mul­lets Argent.

  [figure]

• Sable a Saltire Argent between four Mullets OR, pierced of the Field, & sic ad infinitum.

  [figure]

[Page 154]Behold how every Hieroglyphick is a Symbol, yet how every Symbol is not an Hieroglyphick. Suns denote conspicuous Fa­thers, and Stars egregious Sons; for among us how are the Names of Bright, Day, St. Clear, &c. signified by their Arms; and where the Prince would make a mans name known by his Coat, there they are both allusions and conclusions, as in Pierson's Coat of Yorkshire, his Coat not onely alluding to the Name in the Creast, the Sun appearing on the Peir of a Rock, but in the Coat three Suns between two Pallets waved, directly agreeing with the Naturalists Observation of the causes thereof, which is, when a smooth watery Cloud, which is of equal thickness, quiet and still, is placed on the sides of the Sun, then it will appear as if there were three Suns, though in­deed there is but one. And this Bearing seemeth to point out his profession, as well as name (viz.) an Astronomer, or one who by speculation or Practice findeth out the Parahelii, the Pears of the Sun; or, as if one would say, apud Solem. The Coat of Thompson, by the Sun in the Canton, denotes the Fa­ther; and by the Stars on the Fesse, the three Sons, all of them considerable Persons. Now if we turn our eyes to those other Meteors that are born in Arms, which Naturalists refer to the 2 Day, Meteors. though indeed Meteors are effected by the power & operation of the Sun, we shall find that some have been seen to bear Rainbows, and have pleased themselves VARIETA­TE JUCUNDA; Others to shew their hopes of better Days, AB IMBRE SERENUM; for to Noah it was NUN­CIA SERENITATIS, and to me it is the Emblem of a true friend, SI FUERINT NUBILA. The Coat of Thunder is a Fesse between two Thunderbolts, plainly denoting the Name of the Bearer, and in its quality signifieth Boanerges, as Saint James was USQUE IN OCCIDEMTEM PARIT. It de­noteth also a Traveller, EXPIABIT AUT OBRUET. If it be born by a Prince, TERRET UNDE FULGET. So it was born winged by the Scythians. If by a Souldier, TONITRU RUIT, VELOCIOR ICTVS. If by a private person, HUMILI­ORA MINUS; and so it is devolved unto my self by the [Page 155] Daughter and Heir of Delahay, who bare the Star of Mars, and married the Daughter and Heir of Thunder, and SUM­MA PETIT, though indeed my own fortune never arised a­bove my Calling, who acknowledge with Seneca; ‘Minus in parvis fortuna ferit.’

The Lightning TONITRUA PARAT, and in that sense re­presents worldly felicity, which though it shine with OR or Argent, yet 'tis but BREVIS SPLENDOR. Comets PAU­CIS MINANTUR, OMNIBUS FULGENT. Comets. Planets have their Name from Error, and Stars are the inseparable Com­panions of the Travellers. The Sun is said to be winged, and had Bow and Arrows given it this Day. 'Tis winged by rea­son of its warmth, and armed with Arrows, because the Beams thereof fly about the World, and so correspondent to this Day hath Heraldry allotted the Ma [...] for the difference of the four Brethren, which become Travellers, and on their winged speed compass the world, being without feet, saving the crutches of Providence, by whose wings they are sustained. In a­larum tuarum umbra canam. And I proceed to the winged Choristers, whose Tallons become Arms, and whose Heads became Crests to the Man at Arms, the next Field being that of Elysium, of which Tibullus sweetly and briefly describes;

CHAP. VIII.

VErdure is a state of happiness and felicity, Vert a Bor­der OR, Enaluron of 4 Marilets Sable, and Eatoyre of as many Es­calops Gales. the Golden branch, growing at the en­trance of Elyzium, where Venus Doves are as honourable as Joves Eagle. Con­cerning the Bearing of Birds, if I should say no more than that of the old Eagle, PROVOCAT EXEMPLO; It were enough to stir you all up to the imi­tation of virtue, the Eagle be [...]ring PRAESIDIA MA­JESTATIS, deserving the first place; because in the War of the Gyants an Eagle supply'd Jove with Armes: Ju­piter and Saturn were kings, and waged War upon a diffe­rence of Land; to which Jupiter Marching out, saw the prediction of an Eagle, by which, when he had overcome, it was reported, that the Eagle brought him weapons: from this good luck it was that the Eagle is in the Emperial En­signes.

It is borne in a three-fold manner (viz.) Procidens, Vo­laus; Erectus vel Expausus: In the first posture it is made Bearing the Armes of Jupiter, and among the Romans, in the fourth Legion of the Decemani, and in the Shields of the Elder Constantine in the East; and on many ancient Military Ensignes of the Romans: In which posture it is borne among [Page 158] us by Roper (of Derbyshire) quasi, de Rubro spado; it argu­eth generosity: NIL FULMINA TERRENT. And where the Wing and the Sword go together, 'tis to shew that Art can do as much as Armes, as Emanuel The­saurus noteth on Caesars Commentaries;

In the second posture of Volant it is also found, among all the Roman Legions, being a Golden Eagle, with the Wings Ele­vated, upon the top of a silver Spear; the Bearers whereof were called Aquiliseri: It was antiently borne in the Shields of the younger Herculani, and in this prepared posture it is said to descend to the Table of Augustus.

[blazon of arms]

And from hence did the Eagle assume two heads, Quam Jovi, & Caesari aucil­atus: Richard, second Son of King John (in the ninth year of King Henry the Third, his brother) being Crowned King of the Ro­mans, Via p. 136. writ himself Semper Augustus; had his Armes Carved on the Breast of the Roman Eagle: he bare Argent, a Lyon Rampant, Gules Crowned OR, within a Border Sable, Bezant [...] His Posterity, of the Sir-Name of Cornwal, bearing that Coat, as descended from his natural Son Richard, Father of Sir Geffery Cornwall Knight.

Some suppose that this kind of Bearing with two Heads, was in memory of the two inauspicious birds, or Ravens, that hovered over the head of Caesar, and were struck to the ground by the Eagle: others again attribute it to the divisi­on of the Empire into the East and West, by Constantine the [Page 159] Great; Translating his Seat to Constantinople, making as it were two head Cityes under one Emperour, like the prow of Aenaeas Ship.

Which denoted the Ensign of the Ship; those of Burthen carrying them on their Masts, as the Eagle was carried on a Staff, farr above, for more conspicuosness: But Justus Lip­sius observes, upon that Military Ensign, which is seen in Rome, upon the Column of Antonius, that then it could not have reference to the division of the Empire, much less could it belong to any Souldier; but that rather it had re­spect to one and the same Roman Emperour, with the Wings expanded or displayed; where the right wing is spread over the Eastern parts, and the left over the Western parts there­of; and, two heads is no more than Counsel, or Advice: The Roman Consuls being two (joyned to the Body of the People of Rome, and were) so called a Consulendo: and in Caesar the two heads signified no otherwise than the Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in him, with his Wings expanded, to Protect the People of his Empire. So you see why the Black Eagle is preferred before other; and for the other Co­lours, see my Sphaere of Gentry: it is a reward for Service in many English Coats, as in that of Laurence Hutton of Hutton John in Cumberland, having the two heads thereof, in Reward, circled about with a Crown, by Fredrick the Fourth Empe­rour of Germany, for the Honour that he gained in his Wars in Hungary, against Soliman the Second: having gained the Standard of the Enemy, with the Honour of the Day. So also the Coat of Browne hath rhe Eagle displayed in chiefe, for some special Service performed by the first bearer there­of, in Ambassage to the Emperour, as testifieth Guilime. If you turn your eyes to several other Nations, you shall find [Page 160] the Persians bore it, from the time of Cyrus to the overthrow of that Monarchy: the Eagle being principally taken for an aspicious and fortunate Omen. The Silver Eagle is prefer­red with the Sable, Qu a sit fulgentior atque conspectior; and of any other Colour it is noble, ET VISU ET VOLA­TU, and is therefore a proper bearing for Men of an ac­curat and clear Judgment, as is noted in the bearing of Ed­ward Cook Esquire; being a Man of great Estimation and Ad­miration in his perspicuous knowledge of the Law, worthy to be a Judge; who was among them, as the Eagle among other Birds. So Julius Caesar is said to bear a Sphinx, a bird with a human face (whose subtilties could not be discovered but by an Oedipus) only to shew the clearness of his under­standing. To bear more Eagles than one, is called Eaglets; and among the A gyptians, Per Aquilam & falconem rem maxi­mae velocitates, saith Keecher, and so doth the Cross between the four Falcons in the Coat of the Right Honourable Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and Lord Treasurer of Eng­land; whose Falcons, if they rouse their wings, is equal to the swiftness of the Eagles.

But before I pass from the Eagle with two heads, methinks I hear some say, Why those Monstrosities in Heraldry? while Dr. Brown is content to tollerate Flying Horses, Black Swans, Hydras, Centaurs, Harpyes and Satyers; for (saith he) As they are either Monstruosities, Rarities, or Fictions, so their shadow­ed Moralitie requite their substantial falcities, wherein in­deed we must not deny a liberty; nor is the hand of the Painter more restrained then the pen of the Poet; for, when the real Works of Nature are veritable acts, digressions are aberrations: as to say, an Eagle Rampand, were intolerable; whereas to say a Griffin Serjeant is proper: it being a digression from a natural Eagle, compounded by the same Painter and Poet, [Page 161]

[blazon of arms]

to denote, Vert a Grif­fon Sergeant Argent. that though the Griffon have an intollerable shape, yet it hath an allowable Morality, making out the properties of a Guardian, or any person intrusted: the Eares imply­ing attention, the Wings celerity of execution; the Lyon-like-shape courage and audacity; the hooked Bill reservance and tenacity: it is also the emblem of Magnanimity and valour, being compounded of a Lyon and Eagle, the noblest Animals in their kind; it repre­senteth also Ecclesiastical and Civil Jurisdiction.

Homer is said (by Alexander Paphius, as Estachius testifi­eth) to be born of Aegyptian Parents: his Nurse being a cer­tain Prophetess, and the daughter of Oris, Isis Priest; from whose breasts oftentimes honey flowed in the mouth of the Infant, after which, in the night he is said to have utred nine several Notes of voices of fowles (viz.) of a Swallow, a Peacock, a Dove, a Crow, a Partrich, a Red-Shanks, a Staire, a Blackbird, and a Nightingal; and being a little Boy, was found playing in his bed with nine Doves: the Moral whereof may be this; By the Swallow was signified his Industry and Promptness, and readiness; and such is the nobleness of this birds mind, Ʋ [...] VITAM POTIUS QUAM LI­BERTATEM. Speed beareth two Swallows in Chiefe, as a note of his mind, and industry in his Chronicle; and, why it is borne in the Coat of Arundell, is declared at large in my Sphear of Gentry: by the Swallow also is signified his no­ble Muse, TENDAM PAULUM MODO TOL­LAR IN ALTUM, Poesy like; the Swallow must be free AMICA NON SERVA, it brings tidings of the Spring. By the Peacock is denoted the property of proper valour, SIBI MET PULCHERRIMA MERCES, and spreads the Tayle of Troy, (UT SIC PULCHRI­OR) and so admires himself, TRAHIT MUTAT­QUE [Page 162] VICISSIM: Homer tells both their glory and their woe together, ET CANTU MAEROR. Though indeed the Grecians had this property of the Peacock, to be admirers of themselves, being encouraged by Jun [...]; they are borne by Smith perhaps, because Vulcan was an enemy to the Trojans.

By the Tail of this bird is also signified the night, Argus his Eyes being placed therein, Doves. by which is signified how vi­gilant

[figure]

Military Persons ought to be. Others signifie by the Peacock Noble Persons, Qui secum habent Pulchras Caudas, id est, familias tales ducunt legati; Et vadunt cum tanto exerci­tu, quod invidetur, quod in expeditione vadunt; It hath a good report after death, by reason of the flesh which NUNQUAM PUTRESCET; Argus his Eyes being placed in the Peacocks Tale, signifie the bearer to be wise and circumspect. Now if you consider the Bird of VENUS, the same that was Borne by Aeneas, 'tis INTUS ET EXTRA, being the proper note of True virtue; ET SIBI ET ALIIS. Doves being both fortunate to Aeneas and Caesar, lighting on that Golden Branch of virtue to the first, and building in that Palme, where the second had encamped.

The Elysian Fields having a Wood neer for none but pure and pious Birds, from which all Ravenous and Obscoen ones were [Page 163] driven away: so that what is signified by the Dove is plain; and though it be true that Aquila non generat, &c.

Yet when an Eagle brought a young Stock-Dove and laid it in the Cradle of Diadumenus, the Son of Macrinus, it signi­fied that he should be Emperour, because that day he was born, an old Woman brought his Mother a Present of Pige­ons. Sir John Frederick bears three of these Birds in a Chiefe, and the field of the same Metall of Aeneas his branch; and how farr the Symbole of his Name hath suited with his Mo­deration in Government when he was Lord Major, let even his enemies speak;

The Crow is a contrary colour to the Dove, Crow. and was placed on the fist of Minerva for the Ingenuity thereof. LABO­RE ET INDUSTRIA; Even as the Geese were placed on the Shield of Aeneas for their vigilancy, when time should come, giving notice of the approach of the Gaules, enemies to the Romans, in memory whereof the Pi­cture of a Goose was kept in the Temple of Jupiter Capitoli­nus. And why Corbet beareth a Raven in a field Or, is, as Camden saith, because the name signifieth a Raven: it is a very fair Coat, seeing every Crow thinks his own Bird fairest; it is the Symbole of Garulity (and the Hierroglyphick of Long life, and so Homer hath perpetuised the honour of his Countrey-men:) And though Birds of a chattering nature do much interrupt the Meditation of the Mind, yet the Crow was never discharged from the service of Minerva, till her unacceptable intelligence: Truth not seldome being obnoxi­ous to danger, and a Raven of all other birds is sacred to Apollo, being its voice is articulate and significant.

By the voice of the Partridg which Homer imitated, Partridge. was signified one of excellent invention, whence the Fable, that Perdix rejoycing at the miseries of Dedalus, while he buried [Page 164] his Son, Dedalus envying the Boyes invention of the Saw and Compasses at twelve years of Age, threw him from the top of Minervaes Tower; he was supported by the Goddess, and by her converted into a bird of that Name. There being no envy so great and deadly as is betwixt Men of the same Profession, This the Author hath experience of as well from those who have former­ly writ of this Science as those who were his licensers. for to remove the rivall of their Praises; and ever since the Partridg never flyes high, INTER CU­RAS TRANQUILLE DEGENTEM.

MANUS SUB PENNIS was the Animals of Ezechiel, to shew, that the Works of the hand and the de­sires of the Mind ought to go together: this made Hand­cock beare three Cocks in Chief, and a Hand beneath, to shew the vigilancy and the labour of the bearer: for, one that is agitated by generous thoughts, had rather by himself trace out a way to Heaven, than to tread in others Tracts on Earth! Plurimum enim ad inveniendum contulit qui sperav [...]t posse reperire. The Crane, what does it signifie but Pietas erga parentes & venenatoribus gratae; Hearne. So also is the Hearne. He that beareth the Redshank hath overcome incendiaries. QUOD SIS ESSE VELIS is proper to the Cor­nish Chough; and they that bear them are such, who, like Aene­as, have overcome many dangers of the Harpyes; Virgill gives you this account.

Choughe.The Cornish Chough amongst us denoteth more especially West-Countrey Gentlemen, where these birds are more fre­quent, Cornwallis bearing three on a Fesse, as being originally [Page 165] of Cornwall, whence they have their Denomination as well as the Bird which is black of Body, but with red legs. By the mystical conjunction of Hawk and Lion in the Griffin, the Aegyptians did signifie the genial or syderious Sun, the great celerity thereof, and the strength and vigour of it in its ope­rations, and its activity in Leo. By it also the Genius of Ni­lus was understood, according to Kercher; and to bear Birds of prey, or Monstruosities, is but with Hercules to overcome Centaurs, or the unclean Birds of the Stymphanian lake; Harpyes. in the one Carnales affectus virtute animi mortificat, in the other Libidinem velut pestem fugit. So that to bear a Bird with a Womans face, as the Earl of Oxford doth, and likewise the Families of Astley and Moodys, doth denote men of subtile and aenigmatical Wits, who prevail more in their minds then bodies, according to that of Ovid, Met. lib. 11.

The Parrot, Avis argutula atque etiam humanitus garriens. Parrots. How many younger Brothers shall we find, who with the Martlet have raised themselves by the wing, Martlets. Difference of the fourth Brother: These are at­tributed to these Princes by Speed and others. rather then by the help of their legs, that is, by sailing and becoming Mer­chant men, Quin & longas peregrinationes edocet, & soris, vel equo, vel industria victum honoremque quaeritat. And therefore it was born in the Shields of Edgar, sirnamed Pacificus, and of Edward the Martyr, and of Edmond sirnamed Ironside, and of St. Edward the Confessor.

INTAMINATIS FULGET HONORIBUS. Ella the first King of the Mercians, An. Christi 488. bare six Martlets, 3, 2, 1.

The Black Bird, or Ousle is born by those of the same name in Northamptonshire, AESTATE CANIT, HIEME BALBU­TIT; [Page 166] and like the Nightingal, Black Bird. TEMPORE REDDET, the mu­sick of whose voice EDOCTA SVAVIVS. That Homer was found playing with nine Doves, could signifie nothing but the nine Muses. Nitingal. Why Jupiter honoured the Eagle, is al­ready told, and why Juno the Peacock. The Birds of Mars is the Cock and Crow, of Minerva the Vulture. The Red Coat is for Captains of War, and the White for Patrons of Learning.

PLVS VIGILA

Gallus candidus nota est Deo dedicata. To bear Cranes signifieth wise and provident Leaders, Cranes. who are chosen by the multitude, and whom they follow: they march in array, set Centinels, give a Watch-word by their manner of Cry. The Cranes are Companions in Winter, and the Storks in Summer. Some affirm con­stantly, that the Storks have no Tongues, and are highly regarded for killing of Serpents, as the Ibis is among the Aegyptians, Stork. Gruem praeterea vigilem alitem, Duci­busque idcirco & fortibus viris amicam adjicio, saith Sylvester, and he also testifieth that Lycurgus bore a Crane:

The Aegyptians taking the form of fourteen of their Let­ters [Page 167]

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from parts of Animals; the first Letter A taken from the Leg, crossed by its Bill: OR a Vul­ture Sable. the Neck and Bill at right Angles formed their Gamma: the Bill opened upward, the V or Greek Y: the Neck turned in a spiral line, the O: the Legs opened like a pair of Compasses, the Λ Lambda: the Legs open downward, and the Bill opened upward, formed the X. And they derived the Characters of the Sun and Moon from the Hawks Head and Bill. By a Vulture they signified Nature, because in that Bird no male is found, their Hieroglyphicks being nothing else quam rei sacrae Symbo­lum materiae cuidam incisae, as Becanus testifieth, the wisdome of the Aegyptians being divided into five Orders. The first designat Genethliacos, and was called Chasdim. The other was Asaphim, or Philosophers, or Magi, Hartumim, Inchanters, Mecascaphim, Diviners. By intrails, Gazarim, or Soothsay­er. They did signifie by the several Colour-feathers in the Head of the Lapwing, by the white feather the rational Facul­ty, by the yellow the Sensitive, by the blue the Vegetative, and by the black the Inanimate: to which Colours they attribu­ted also the Complexions, the Seasons, and the Elements. The first prime Numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4. the hot and moist, the hot and dry, the cold and moist, the cold and dry. The ages of man and the winds, viz. To the first Zephyrus, Subsolanus, Auster, Septentrio; and by those seven feathers the variety of things: Septem igitur Colores habet Upupa, quibus verisimile est Aegypti­os significasse septem Planetarum radios, Lapwing. the Lapwing being the Emblem of Tyranny, and is born by the Terwits. And as all Birds were wont to be known by their Creast, so was the man at Arms;

Peter Read of Grimingham in Norfolk, though his Coat be very full, having three Birds on a triumphal Bend waved with­in a Border, yet is honoured with a Canton of Barbary, for his service at Tunis. Camden 's Remains. The Hawk and Eagles head signified Vision, and Gods all-seeing Power, Et per accipitris imaginem Natu­ram Universi, s [...]u spiritum Mundi intelligebant; per aquilam & falconem rem maximae velocitatis ob summam harum avium pernicitatem figurabant. I shall leave the application to the worthy Bearers thereof, viz. Aubrey and Honeywood, cum multis aliis. Birds denote swiftness in the Wings, and there­fore Mercury is called Mercurius pennatus, being winged cap a pe. Feathers. Now for Feathers, those of the Estrich have had the esteem, ever since Edward the Black Prince gained them at the Battel of Poytiers, and have honoured the Coat of Drax in a Chief, and Clarendon on a Bend, who was natural Son to the black Prince, both serving under that victorious Prince, Son to King Edward the Third; they were ancient military Orna­ments, as appeareth by that of Virgil; ‘Cujus Olorinae surgunt de vertice pennae.’

Hugo de prim. scrib. Cham the Tartarian, because his life was saved by an Owle, would have his people wear their Feathers. And among the Romans, their Posts that were swift Runners of long journeys, did wear Feathers, to signifie their swift [Page 169]

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flight. Gules an O­strich Regar­dant Argent And indeed what was signi­fied by the Feathers in this Princes Arms was no other then his speedy execution in all his services. For as the wings help the legs of the Ostri­ches; So was he swift both in Sea and Land, CVRSV PRAETERVEHOR OMNES. And while the Crow cries CRAS, CRAS; This Bird NIHIL PROCRASTINANS. The nature of the wings PORTANTEM POR­TANT. And to bear them as the Honourable Family of the Seamours OR; Wings. what doth it denote but EXPANSAE SVBLI­MEN, and are the wings of an Eagle, while Ridgway bears them silver, as those of a Dove. Wingham wears them in to­ken of his Name, AD SIDERA VOLVVNT. Wingfield bea­reth three pair on a Bend between Cotisses, in sign of protecti­on of the Field of Battail by the wings thereof. If the wind dishevel the Feathers, TVRBANT, SED EXTOLLVNT. The Hern in time of a storm surmounts the Clouds in its serenity: the feeblest Bird NOCENTIA FVGIT, Hern. and the noble Ph [...]nix EST VICTRIX TEMPORIS. The Pelican de­notes a Lover of his Countrey, PRO LEGE ET PRO GRE­GE. The Crain STVDIO ET VIGILANTIA, and repre­senteth the Centinel posture, When it holds a stone, ME STANTE NIL TIMENDVM, representing the vigilency of a

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Bishop. Stork. The Stork is born by Star­key, in token of Gratitude, PAR PA­RI REFERVNT. Wolrich beareth three Swans, VNIVS COLORIS, A Swans head erased on a wreath. in token of sincerity and learning, it being the Muses Bird, MORIENS MODVLOR, singing before its death, Musicam alitem anteire cho­ros Canoros Volucrum ceterarum, tum etiam quia Cignus, par ira viribusque, vel saltem felicitate pugnandi, and [Page 170] having a Crown about the Neck, as in Baker's Coat, COLLO SUPEREMINET. Birds of prey are said to be armed, ET CUSTOS ET PVGNAX. If not of prey, they are said to be membred. Birds legs. It is often seen, that even Birds legs are born in Arms, as in that of Bray being a Cheveron between three Ea­gles Tallons, and is an Argument of a Masculine Spirit. Ker­cher saith, that the Scarabaeus was worn in Rings by Captains in War for this cause, ut totus luceat armis Scarabaeus, uti Martio quodam fulgere perstringat se intuentes: and that it sig­nifieth hominem animo debere esse virili, Kercher l. 4. Obilis. & non effoeminato, si­cuti Scarabaeus Masculus tantum est, foeminae nescius: and to this doth that of Horace seem to allude;

And as the same Poet testifieth, that Vulcan the Armour-bearer of the Aegyptians, was signified by the Scarabaeus; his words are these; Vulcanum indicantes Scarabaeum, & Vultu­rem pingunt, Scarabee and the Valthre. Minervam vero; Vulturem & Scarabaeum. And as Caelius Calcaginus noteth upon this nicity, I know not, saith he, Quid inconvenientiae importat & incongruitatis; quo­modo enim uni duo Symbola inter se opposita responderent? which the learned Kercher hath thus ingeniously varied; Vulcanum indicantes, Scarabaeum pingunt; Minervam vero simul cum Vul­cano, Vulturem & Scarabaeum. By reason that Art and Arms ought to go together, because that neither Saturn, nor Jupi­ter, nor Mars, nor Venus, nor Love are of any power, unless they be helped by industry, and Mechanical Arts. In the Coat of Sewell there is a Ch veron between three Scarabees, perhaps to denote, as Peter Servius in his Chapter of the To­ga virilis, according to the Proverb, Sua unicuique Minerva; for, saith he, Etiamsi omnia ad Arma spectent, Togam tamen tractare & licet & libet; for the winged and laborious Bee shews whence he derives his Pedegree, and thus I have shew­ed you one part of the Creation on this Day, viz.

And the reason why Birds are of all Colours, Chromotism of Birds. is as Ker­cher saith, because Originem suam partim ex aqua, partim ex aere trahant. And I now pass from the Air, or Juno to Sea ­born Venus, and take a short view of those Creatures in the waters, whose increase is admirable; and therefore the He­brews did account their Letter He to be the Conjugal Let­ter, being the fifth in the Alphabet; and the Symbol of Con­jugal affection was the Annulet attributed to the fifth Bro­ther:

The Owl among the Hieroglyphicks, Owl. Signum est sapientiae & acquisitae, quoniam sicuti Noctua nocte operatur, & de die quiescit: ita sapientes qui fugiunt tumultum negotiorum mundi, tranquil­lam vitam agunt in contemplationibus suis, sicuti nocte, & silen­tio noctua.

Now for the Ensigns of this Day that yet remain, viz. of Fish: Fish.

The Sea-horse is a particular Bearing, Sea-Horse. appropriate to Mer­chants and Merchants Societies, and is born by Tuckers of Devonshire, by Wilkinson, holding of an Escalop shell; and for the same cause is born Mairmen or Maids. The Earl of Sandwich bears Sea supporters, to denote his Dominion on the Sea, signifying for the most part conversation in the deep waters: and for the Dolphin it is the King of Sea Animals, Dolphins. and was born in the Shield of Vlysses, and is testified by Plu­tarch to be in memory of the Dolphin, by whom his Son Tele­machus [Page 172] was preserved. It was born also in the Shield of Ae­neas, according to Virgil, Aen. lib. 8.

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Sterns of Fish signifie a carefull Pilet in the deep waters, HINC LV­DVS ET ESCA. Sable two Dolphins en­dorsed and Hauriant betwee six Croslets fitched Ar­gent. Its proper Colour is Argent, and is sociable to Mankind, SERVIT NON SAEVIT. In the Shield of Hercul [...]s there were silver Dolphins pursuing brazen Dolphins. Among the A gyptians it signified the watry Element, and was therefore used in all the Ensigns of Neptune: and why the Fishmongers bear them crowned, I need not tell you, having for rea­son St. Peter, as well as St. James. It is born by the name of James, curved in the Back, as it is seen in many ancient Coins among the Romans, and it signifieth Dominion on the Sea, and swift Navigation. salutem denique & incolumita­tem. Caesar is said to give the Dolphin to the Delphinates, be­cause they assisted him against the Gauls. The name of Wha­ley beareth three Whales heads, Whales. either to shew their strength at Sea; or perhaps for the same cause, that the Olive was preferred to Minerva for the Oyl thereof; for Whales, saith one, swim in a Sea of water, and have in them a Sea of Oyl, MOLE RUIT SVA. Fishes in general among the Aegyptians were the Hieroglyphicks of Death and Envy; more especi­ally the Eele, because of all other it hath the least society with [Page 173]

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its own kind: but among the Chri­stians Fishes was the Emblem of the Church, and the Unity of it; Sable throe Roches Nut­ant Argent. for some were more certain Symbols of the name. Peter de Rupibus Bishop of Winchester, in King John's time, bare Sable three Roches Naiantes Argent. All Fishes have different qualities, and are found in a Shoal: and as Fishes are mute, so are they understood for Emblems of silence, and also of agi­lity, VIX NATI NATANT. The Escalop shell is the particular Ensign of St. James, and is born in the Coats of Peter and James, as a note of Pilgrimage; for to them, as a little sufficeth, so much is troublesome, SOLO GAUDET COELO, having left the riches of this

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world to follow their Master, Quarterly Argent and Sable a Cross between four Esca­ [...]op Shels couaterchan­ged. QVA DI­VES NVNC MISERA. Though this ap­pear as an empty Shell, yet 'twas a peculiar Bearing of the Holy Land, as Hook bear­eth it with a Cross. But how many are there that bear these in their Arms, which notwithstanding can boast no more of their Atchievements then Caligula, who demanded Triumph for having vainly cau­sed his souldiers to gather Cockle-shells on the shore? Not­withstanding they may bear them as Emblems of good Hus­bandry, according to Virgils Georgicks in setting Plants: ‘ Let Shells and Limestones guard it with a Pale.’

And such a Coat with three Escalops on a Pale is born by the name of Stone: Escalops. and Pollard of Devonshire beareth three Mullets, or Pollard-Fishes, being of the shape of a Star, and its nature is AD LVCEM VENIVNT. Luce beareth three Lu­cies, ASTV NONVI. Lucies. And Gascoign bears the head thereof [Page 174] on a Pale; it is cut off NON VI SED ARTE. Crabb bear­eth three Crabs, Crabs. and Bridger beareth them RETROCEDEN­TES ACCEDIT. The Mottos, both for Fowl and Fish are al­ready printed in the Sphere of Gentry. And to conclude, this Chapter, as one saith, the Sea is the Stable of the Horse-fish, the Stall of the Kine-fish, the Sty of the Hog-fish, the Kenel of the Dog-fish, and in all things the Sea is the Ape of the Land. Egge beareth to his Creast the Sea Horse head, Sea Horse. in memory of his Discovery of Greenland Trade, and the Eagle to denote the heighth of the Enterprize, every Bearing being an Ensign of Nobility, Grashoppers as among the Athenians they bare golden Gras­hoppers, from the opinion of not knowing their own Origi­nals. So though we know not the Original of many naviga­ble Rivers, yet we know AGITATIONE PVRGANTVR. And beautifull Venus is drawn on the water by Swans, having even a green Field under the water, yielding many precious Plants, GERMINANS DE PROFVNDO: neither is the Field Vert otherwise then a good Bearing, though not so frequent, and is that of Venus, the green Field representing the Princes Co­lours;