Evening star., 1911-06-03
FIND ANCIENT SHIELD
Coat of Arms of WASHINGTON
Family Discovered.
IN OLD YORKSHIRE ABBEY
Emhlazoning in Olerestory Window
Still Easily Seen.
YEARS BUDGET IS NOTABLE
Proposal to Pay Members Of Par
lament E4OO a Year Is Caus-
ing Universal Interest.
YEARS BUDGET IS NOTABLE
Correspondence Of The Star.

| Foreign Correspondence Of The Star.
LONDON. May q. 1911.
coat of arms of the Washington FAM
| lily has Just been discovered at Selby
Abbey, Yorkshire. This beautiful and
ancient abbey was burned down two
years ago and all England, responding to
| the appeal for money for it's restoration.
enabled new foundation stone to be
| laid this week. The important find
which intimately connects the abbey
with America was made during a recent
examination of the ruins of the former
building and no one suspected it's exist
| ence before.
The find" is an heraldic shield In one
Of the abbey windows which, until re-
| Gently. seems to have defied all attempts
| at Identification. but which. now that it
| Is known. is of such Importance as to
| demand publicity. Argent, two bars
gules. In chief three mullets, pierced, of
the second"-such is the heraldic de-
scription of the mysterious Selby shield,
Wnlch Is destined to become famous, and
this is the Interpretation thereof: Two
red bars with a row above of three red
stars. all on silver ground. This SIM
pie description will enable any one. how
/ CNCi i6uOi dAl VI HcTdlQy, TO 1OGnIuy LOT
| himself the shield in question, and the
| most cursory glance will suffice to show
| what valuable asset the Abbey Church
OF Selby possesses in this window, and
what an attraction it should prove to
Americans. who long have made pill
grimages to Great Britain in Northamp-
tonshlre to see the Washington slab
there
The shield is to be seen in one of the
clerestory windows of the lovely decorat-
ed chofr-the second from the east end
on the south side-in the second light Of
the window. In spite Of fire. restoration
and other vicissitudes through which the
abbey has passed, and notwithstanding
the ravages of time, the embla zoning is
as clear as on the day when the glass
left the artists hands four or five GEN.
turtles ago. The ''gules" have become a
very deep red with age, but the whole
heraldic device stands out boldly, and
can be read from the ground floor Of
choir or choir aisle without the least as
sistance of glasses-three red stars and
two red stripes" on white field Is an
instantaneous reminder of the Star Span
gled Banner Of the United States.
Puzzle to Antiquaries.s
But the strange part Of the whole thing
| Is that. although the device is SO clea.
| and suggestive. it has remained unde-
ciphered until our own day and has been
| an evident puzzle to generations OF anti
quaries, who, inter ALA, have undertaken
a description Of the abbey heraldry.
Morrell. for instance, in his History of
Selby." published in 1867. describes this
shield along with the other armorial
bearings in the Abbey Church, but while
most are deciphered, the family name
being placed after the heraldic descrip-
ton. this one is left blank, the es-
cutcheon being described. but no name
attached, Arg. two bars gul. in chief
three Yol1l1ofa VII
This reading Of the shield, somewhat
peculiar from the herald's point Of view.
| is verbally Identical with that given by
Mountain In his ''selby.'' published in
IDENTIFY verbatim copy of the older, and
neither Mountain nor Morrell knew to
what family the coat OF arms belonged.
But. strangely enough, he who was cop
led was evideptly himself only copyist.
Mountains blazoning of the shield in
question being a mere duplicate of one
| that had been written half a century
previously by much more eminent anti
quarry than either Mountain or Morrell.
This was none other than the famous
a number of medical treatises, but Carl
catured and immOrtaliZed by Laurence
Sterne in "Tristram Shandy" as DIR.
Slop," the man midwife. Burton's hob
by was antiquaries, and his chef d'oeuvre
| was the ''Monasticon Eboracense" in two
volumes, the second of which was never
published. The first volume, however.
saw the light of day in the year 1883
Selby Abbey.
Bearings Are Described
Among other things. the armorial bear
ings are described, his blazoning Of the
shield under consideration being that
which was copied by the later historians,
Mountain and Morrell. This account of
DR.. Burton's is important, because its
date takes us twenty years further back
than the American war of independence.
But even "Old Slop" was not the first to
describe the Selby coat of arms. The
| work had been done nearly two centuries
earHer in the famous visitation of Glover.
made in the years 1854 and. 1885, and at
that far distant period the Selby shield.
bearing the red stars and bars on a white
field, was in existence, but then evident
ly so old that the family to whom the
shield belonged was not recognized by
the visitor, though he was an acknowl-
edged authority in heraldic science. and
| occupied the exalted position Of Worces-
ter herald.
Remarkable indeed. it is that this coat
of arms should have remained SO long
unidentified. for 1t is none other than
that borne by the Washington family. the
came the first President of the United
States, who Is known to have worn a
ring bearing the same heraldic device
The Identification seems to have been first
suggested by Mr.. c. c. Hodges. in
.'Coucher Book Of Seiby." published in
1893. But there was a note of uncer-
tainty about his suggestions. which ap-
peared in the queried form: Washing
ton?' and 1t seems to have made no i'm
preston on those who have visited the
abbey. But quite independent of this note
of Hodges. the arms were identified by
Capt. Storrs Of Portsmouth a few weeks
ago. the information being transmitted
by him to the vicar Of the Abbey Church.
Nor can there be the slightest doubt
about the accuracy of the Identification,
for the WashinRton arms are known to