The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-04
PURCHASE or ANCESTORS.
Neither n Difficult Nor an Expensive
Operation in London.
London Mail.

Persons are constantly calling at the Her.
aids College in Queen Victoria street IN
quest of coats of arms or ancestors. In adj
ditiCn to that ancient Oak-paneied hall there
are shops in the streets of London, gay
with heraldic devices and marvellous
medieval birds and beasts, where pedlgrees
can be purchased and shields procured, with
supporters, quarterings, crest and motto
complete.
When w. S. Gilbert playfully alluded to
ancestors by purchase he probably dld
not realize that he was making a smart hit
at the traffic in crests and shields.
This is how it is done: A clerk keeps
kind of stock reference book, giving the
names of various county families and par
ticulars of THEN heraldic bearings.
Your name and place OF residence,
please" says the clerk.
Wardour street." or Smith, of Mile End,
:Ah, yes; Wardour street is in Middlesex.
Jones of Middlesex. oh, here it is, lovely
arms, too. Azure, three balls of Lombardy,
or, crest, an empty purse, vert; notices,
L Empire, c'est la paix.' and Keep off the
grass ..o,,
Jones of MiddleseX, with an assumed care
'oh, most decidedly replies the clerk;
wen make you lovely sketch of it. Only
8 shillings pence that's all. Thank you,
Nobody can touch me for wearing it?"
pursueS Jones, with growing fear or ar
rest for petit larceny.
Nobody at ALL, says the shopman. PAY
the annual tax for bearing arms, ana no
body can touch you.
That is correct On the principle Of the
great Wackford SqueeTs, that man may
call his house an island if he pleases, there
being mo law agin it, so a man may call
certain arms his own and apply the same
decoration to his notepaper, signet ring and
Wheelbarrow. So that some eminently re-
spectacle heraldry, originally granted, per-
haps for some desperate yaior amid the
steel clash of Cressy or the arroWy showers
of Agincourt, is passed off, in this matter
of-fact age, for miserable shillings 6
pence to "Jones of Middlesex.'
But the College of HeIaldS is the only
place in the British Empire which can grant
a man arms by royal letters patent.
1t cost Colonel Shipway G6S3 TO obtain
arms and ancestors that did not belong to
him or his family. At the College of Her
aids the extreme expense of a genuine coat
is lust one-ninth of that sum. Seventy-six
pounds ten shillings is the highest fee the
college may charge, and this includes stamp
duty and q velum scroll with the royal sign
manual affixed thereto Nor may the col
Iege charge a fee for any information unless
it states that fee before giving the inforna-
actly beforehand what he Will have to pay.
The bill is not being constantly added to by
disinterred lead collins or initials on belfry
"But can any one walk up Queen Victoria
street enter the little courtyard. ascend the
stone steps and plank down &16 los and
get himself a coat of arms7" The Daily
the college No, was the answer. Before
being granted q coat of arms man must
prove he has reached a state of life in
which arms can be suitably borne. The
proof is left entirely TO the discretion Of the
Duke OF Norfolk, earl marshal Of England.