Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-12-19
STEALING a COAT OF ARMS.
What Makes mp the Library Of . Car
riagemaker and How it Il Used.

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riagemAksr and How it IL Used.
It is not generally known, but it Is
nevertheless a fact that every large car
,isQe manufacturing establishment in this
country has library. The work of only
TWO authors are in this library and these
are the production of Mr.. Burke and Mr.
Lodge. "Burke's Peerage and Baronet-
age" Lodges book Of the same title and
;fBurke's General Armory" are all that
s needed, but they are indispensable.
A man on whom fortune has smiled Is
having a carriage built. 1t Is to be
heavy numbering affair and guaranteed
10 have look Of ancient respectaolllty
about il before It comes out Of the shop.
Now he, sensible man, had intended 10
have his cipher on the panels but the
ladies Of the family are more AMBITIOUS
and keep at him until, in moment OF
weakness, he consents to decorate his fam
Ily carriage with a coat OF arms. Inc
next question is how TO get one. Hereto
fore he and his ancestors have struggled
along without armorial bearings and
never especially felt the need OF them.
But now things are changed. nhe lived
an Brazil he would endow hospital and
with a coat Of arms Of great compleXlty.
II he were an Englishman he might do
hundred things less expensive and get
pedigree and coat Of arms from the Col
lege Of Heralds and write Sir before his
name.
But being an American there isno way
for him to get coat OF arms except 10
steal it, and so the respectable old gen
tleman is driven to the first theft OF his
life. The New York College OF Heraldry
being no longer i'm existence, he conhdes
in the carriage manufacturer. TIE car
rage man brings out his library and IN
the seclusion of his private office the coat
of arms of some more or less noble lord Is
appropriated, to be subsequently trans
ferred TO the rich mans family coach.
These people are rather particular about
their arms when they once get started in
the selection. Say, for instance, that the
man who wants a coat of arms Is named
Smith The carriage man opens his
heraldic record and reads: Smith, Ed
ward Augustus Patrick Peter, First Bar
onet Of Mudtowne, County Kerry, Ire
land" mo, no." says the rich man.
'Our family are English by descent.
A few more pages are turned over and
then under menagerie OF heraldlc
animals the carriage manufacturer reads:
"Billingsgate, Marquis of Smith fitz
Plantagenet), James Augustus Douglas
George, Marquis and Earl, Baron Smith
of County Of York. The marquis assumed
in 1876 by royal license the additional sur
name of Fitz PlantaSenet for himself and
his issue and quactered the Plantagenet
arms with his own"
"Ah! that must be the one," says the
seeker after coat of arms. Il have
heard that our family came from York.
shire"
And so the arms OF the Marquis of Bill
Engsgate blaze on the panels Of the new
carriage when it rolls along the avenue.
Appropriations of coats of arms would
make themselves less absurd If they
would read a rudimentarr book on her
aldry before they made the appropriation.
For instance, Mr.. Smith, in appropriate
ing the coat Of arms Of the "MOSt Honor
able the Marquis of Billingsgate, takes
not only the arms of Smith but the arms
of Fitz Plantagenet and likewise the sup
pOrters which can only be used by peer
of the realm. He SslrmOuntS the whole
with the cap and coronet of a marquis
and any Que verSed in such matters would
suppose tI.Rt peer was riding in the car
riage instead of plain Mr.. Smith. Now II
Mr.. Smith did really belong to the family
of the marquis, rs he did not, he would
be entitled only to the arms for Smith
without the cOronet, the supporters or the
mOttO-Ncw York Tribune.