Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-06-11

Many Interesting Facts as 40 Their
origin and character.

The London NdHdGrd has the follow
ing: The heraldic exhibition about TO
be held in Client ought to occupy a
prominent place among the more educa-
tional amusements of the month. About
seven years ago the first exhibition OF
the kind was opened in Berlin. when the
Insignia OF the Black Eagle and the
endless genealogical trees of the Ger
man nobility formed display interest
ing alike to the historian and to
the cynic. On the present occasion
though the student OF arms and
quarterings and notices will not
be equally overwhelmed with pedigrees,
the ancient city of Bras-de-Fer and OF
Jacob van Artevelde will not be found
lacking in the genius loci, while the
armorial bearings Of the famous Order
OF tho Golden Fleece ought to form
specially. To the uninitiated the man
ties and collars, the emblazoned shields
and great hilted swords will DO things OF
wonder, while the grihins, and dragons.
and uniforms, and the heraidic cats. which
have never been seen IN any geological
garden, may vastly amuse the irreyerent.
But TO the student OF medieval lite these
rude attempts TO preserve the chronl-
Giles of descents and marriages, Of
gentle blood and heroic deeds, cannot
fail to prove instructive. If, as We may
presume will DO the case, the committee
debsr ell apocryphal crests and quarter
ings, their duty will not be light. There
must be mighty searching Of parch
ments and Iibri 4 orc, of seals and
escutcheons, before the real and tine
fictitious can be separated. That such a
task is possible t. any exhibition COM
mittee anxious for the good will OF tho
greatest gumber may reasonably be
doubted Ivy those VITO are fami-
liar with the amazing legends grayely
related in the Pccr0qcS which some
satir1st has declared to be the Shastras Of
the middle-class Englishman. Heraldry,
it is true, may have outliyed its useful
ness. But to characterize It, IN the
words of q certain Lord Chancellor. as
"the silly old business of sillyold men " Is
to deliver one OF those automatic yerdicts
much easier to pronounce than to de-
fend. No doubt there are many coats
of arms which are inventions as alb
solute a. those OF HOgyn de
Mogyns Of the Hundred Beeyes,
whom the pediRree-makers discovered
10 be the ancestors OF Sir Thomas Mug
gins, or the Barber-Surgeou Of I'd
ward the Confessor, who figured as the
founder of the Newcome family. And
there are plenty more which cannot be
historically justiiied-which have been
annexed without permission or devised
by those INGENIOUS people vino Under
take TO find arms and crests and
set of ancestors TO boot. But such cog
nizances are not worse than some DIS
played in very high places. For in
stance. the arms of William the Con-
dueror and Matilda Of Flanders and OF
Henry |. and Matilda Of Scotland are
duly emblazoned on the tomb OF Queen
Elizabeth, and it is not uncommon 10
hear Of people claiming to have borne
particular arms "slnce the Conquest
In reality the COnqueror had no arms.
Like the Smiths he "sealed his letters
with his thumb" and his successors un-
til Richard ]. were confined 10 much the
same straits. II is possible that Celts
will appear ut Client with quarterlngs OF
the NOachian arms, or Spaniards who
are represented as entering the ark with
their family papers under their arm.
But all the stories of grants made by
Cunnedda and Wledig and Charlemagne
are quite rs imaginary as the pehgrees
which date back 10 Saxon times. TX
cept in the few instances in which
family established fund for
the deliverance Of the souls of GER
tain stipulated ancestors from purgatory,
II is impossible TO trace any ordinary
genealogy beyond the eleventh century.
The heralds OF the fifteenth and SIX
teenth centuries went SO tar as 10 "attrl-
bute arms to Achilles and Solomon. 10
hector and the Virgin Mary. while
Dame Juiana Berners informs her
readers that "Seynts JerOmy, Ambrose,
Augustyn. and Gregori war gentilmen OF
blode and of cOataImures. Apart, how
ever. from these absurdities there Is a
great deal in heraldry which deserves
tine status OF history. The College OF
Heralds mas now lost or abandoned the
power to prevent any one using, II 1t so
pleases him, any armorlal device which
takes bis fancy, 50 long rs he pays the
tax which the inland revenue imposes.
The time was, nevertheless when Car
ter Clarenceux. and Norrop, Somerset,
Chester, and Windsor, Richmond, Ian
caster, and York, aud even those dread
pursuiyants, Rouge Dragon, Iortcuilis,
Blue Mantle, and Rouge CrolX and their
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS in Scotland and Ire
"a af
Provincial visitatiOns of the Heralds As
sizes prompt punishment Was meted ont
to Squires who presumed 10 display coat
armor and supporters without the sane
ton OF Garter, or Lyon, or Ulster King
at Arms. ErOissart tells story Of how
Il Knight OF the Scrope family could
with difficulty be restrained from hewlng
down prisoner for the crime OF wearing
the same bearings as himself, and one OF
tine causes which led to the loss of the
battle OF Barnet Was the fact OF Warwick
installing the streaming sun OF John die
We're for the similar cognlZance OF the
King, and so fighting aga nst his own
side. Even in modern times We have
seen lawsuits over the right OF certain
families TO certain crests and until new
men and old gentry grew 50 numerous
there were people, like Charles Kirk
patrick Sharp, who occupied much OF
their life in settling such questions, and
country gentlemen who, If ignorant OF
all other history, resisted with might and
main any attempt to infringe the laws OF
the gentle science.
The introduction OF gunpowder, and
the consequent disuse Of armor and its
emblazonments reduced heraldry to a
means of establishing nothing more than
the right of claimance to civil distinc-
ton and precedence. As such it does
not seem to have lost much of its old
popularity. Republicanism and an es
pousal of the theory Of human equality
10 not bar the way to a love of TINS rule
of feudal age. The Stars and Stripes
of the United States are simply a slight
transformation of the "argent, two bars
gules, in chief three mullets Of the
second" borne by the Washington
family. All the South American re-
publics have their coats Of arms, and OF
4 - kL,