A, D are _quarters quarterly_, and B
is _a quarter quarterly of six_, while C remains unaffected by the
secondary process. The terms “_quarterly quartering_” and “_quarterly
quartered_” are used to signify such secondary quartering as is
exemplified in A, B, D of No. 37. The four primary quarters (A, B, C,
D of No. 37) are distinguished as _Grand Quarters_: consequently, the
quarter B of this example is the _second grand quarter, quarterly of
six_. This term “Grand Quarter” may be employed to distinguish any
primary quarter when any quarter in the Shield is “quarterly quartered.”

DIVIDING and BORDER LINES, in addition to simple right lines and curves,
assume the forms that are represented in the next diagram, No. 38:--

[Illustration: No. 38.]

No. 38. A. _Indented_
B. _Dancetté_
C. _Wavy_ or _Undée_ (2 varieties)
D. _Engrailed_
E. _Invected_ or _Invecked_
F. _Embattled_
G. _Raguly_
H. _Nebuly_ (2 varieties)
I. _Dovetailed_

Two others, less frequently met with, however, are _rayonné_ and
_flory-counter-flory_.

[Illustration: No. 39.]

[Illustration: No. 40.]

[Illustration: No. 41.]

[Illustration: No. 42.]

[Illustration: No. 43.]

[Illustration: No. 44.]

[Illustration: No. 45.]

[Illustration: No. 46.]

[Illustration: No. 47.]

THE SHIELD: ITS VARIETIES OF FORM.--The front face of an heraldic Shield
is generally flat; but sometimes the curved edges are made to appear as
if they had been slightly rounded off. Some early Shields are
represented as _bowed_--hollowed, that is, in order to cover more
closely the person of the bearer, and consequently having a convex
external contour, as in No. 39. In early examples of bowed Shields the
whole of the armorial blazonry is sometimes displayed on the face of
that portion of the Shield which is shown. A _ridge_, dividing them in
pale, but not necessarily in any way acting as an heraldic dividing
line, appears in many Shields, and particularly in those of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The large elongated Shields that have
been entitled “kite-shaped,” and which were in use in the days of
RICHARD I. and amongst the Barons of Magna Charta, were superseded by
the smaller “heater-shaped” Shield as early as the reign of HENRY III.
The most beautiful forms of this Shield are represented in Nos. 40, 41,
and 42: of these, No. 40 has its curves described about the sides of an
inverted equilateral triangle, and then they are prolonged by vertical
lines towards the chief: in Nos. 41, 42, the sides curve from the chief
to the base. The forms of Shields admit of various slight modifications,
to adjust them to varying conditions. Towards the close of the
fourteenth century the form of the Shield is found to undergo some
singular changes: and, at later periods, changes in form of this kind
became generally prevalent. Nos. 43, 44, exemplify such changes as
these: they also show the curved notch that was cut in the dexter chief
of the Shields of the same periods, to permit the lance to pass through
it as the Shield hung down on the breast: a Shield so pierced is said to
be _à bouche_. The Surface of the Shield, No. 43, which is in the
Episcopal palace at Exeter, is wrought into a series of shallow hollows,
which curve gracefully from the central ridge, some to the dexter, and
others to the sinister. Such a Shield as this may be consistently used
in our own Heraldry: but, since now we do not associate lances laid in
rest with our heraldic Shields, it appears desirable that we should not
draw our Shields _à bouche_. In recent Heraldry the Shield has commonly
been made to appear such an unsightly and un-heraldic deformity as is
represented in No. 45. Instead of a true heraldic Shield also, a rounded
oval with a convex surface, called a _cartouche_, or _cartouche shield_,
No. 46, is occasionally used for the display of armorial blazonry; or a
circle is substituted for such an oval. These cartouches probably owe
their origin to the usage of placing a Garter of the Order about a
Shield (prevalent in the fifteenth century), and to a subsequent period,
when we find the omission of the exact outline of the actual Shield. But
their frequent appearance in Ecclesiastical Heraldry suggests that
perhaps they were deliberately preferred to the purely military shield.
A _Lozenge_, No. 47, takes the place of a Shield to bear the arms of
Ladies, with the exception of the Sovereign; this very inconvenient
substitute for the heraldic Shield was introduced early in the
fourteenth century.

THE SHIELD: ITS HERALDIC TREATMENT.--When a Shield is represented as
standing erect, it is not necessary to specify that fact, since such a
position may be assumed for a Shield unless another be set forth in
blazoning. Shields are sometimes made to appear suspended by the
_guige_, or shield-belt (which was worn by Knights to sustain and secure
their Shields to their persons); in some Seals and generally in
architectural compositions, Shields-of-Arms appear suspended, erect,
from their guiges; at Westminster some of the earliest Shields are thus
suspended, with a very happy effect, from two points of suspension, the
guige passing over sculptured heads, as in No. 48, the Arms of Provence,
borne by ALIANORE of Provence, Queen of HENRY III.--the _shield_ is
_gold_, and on it are blazoned _four red pallets_. In Seals, the
suspended Shield is generally represented hanging by the sinister-chief
angle, as in No. 49; and it hangs thus diagonally from below the helm.
A Shield thus placed is said to be “_couché_.” This arrangement is also
frequently adopted, when a Shield or an Achievement of arms is not
placed upon a Seal; but in any case the position has no importance
except as a matter of artistic treatment.

[Illustration: No. 48.--Arms of Provence, Westminster Abbey.]

[Illustration: No. 49.--Shield Couché.]

The entire surface of every Shield is termed the “_Field_.” The same
term is also applied to _every plain surface_. A Shield is said to be
“borne” by the personage to whom it belongs: and, in its turn, the
Shield “bears” whatever figures and devices may be displayed upon it;
whence, all these figures and devices are entitled “_Bearings_” or
“_Armorial Bearings_.” All figures and devices are also styled
“_Charges_”; and they are said to be “_charged_” upon a Shield, Banner,
or Surcoat, or upon one another. In blazoning, the field of the Shield
is always first noticed and described: next follow the charges that rest
upon the field of the Shield itself; then descriptions are given of the
secondary bearings that are charged upon others of greater importance.
As a general rule, of several charges which all alike rest immediately
upon the field of the Shield, the most important is the first to be
blazoned; so that the arrangement of blazoning is determined by the
comparative dignity of the bearings, as well as by the degree in which
charges are nearer to the field and further from beholders. In some
cases, however, a bearing charged upon the field of a Shield and many
times repeated on a small scale, is blazoned (for the sake of simplicity
and clearness of expression) next to the field of the Shield
itself:--thus, if a lion be charged on the field of a Shield, and a
considerable number of crosses surround the lion, and, like him, are
placed on the field of the Shield also--the field of the Shield is
blazoned first, the crosses second, and the lion third; and, if a
crescent (or other bearing) be charged upon the lion’s shoulder, it is
the last in the blazon. In quartered Shields the blazoning commences
afresh with each quartering. In blazoning armorial banners and
horse-trappings, the latter often gorgeously enriched with heraldic
blazonry, the dexter side of a flag is always next to the staff, and the
head of a horse is supposed always to be looking towards the dexter.




CHAPTER V

THE GRAMMAR OF HERALDRY

SECTION II

_The Tinctures’ Metals-- Colours-- Furs-- Varied Fields-- Law of
Tinctures-- Counterchanging-- Diaper-- Disposition-- Blazoning in
Tinctures._

“All the devices blazoned on the Shield
In their own tinct”
--ELAINE.


In English Heraldry the TINCTURES comprise _Two Metals_, _Five Colours_,
and _Eight Furs_. They are symbolised or indicated by dots and lines--a
very convenient system, said to have been introduced, about the year
1630, by an Italian named Silvestre de Petrasancta. Some such
symbolisation, however, may occasionally be found in anticipation of
Petrasancta. The system now in use was not generally adopted till the
commencement of the eighteenth century. This system is never officially
employed in a matter of record, and is now being discarded by many
artists. The Metals, Colours, and Furs are named, their names are
abbreviated, and they are severally indicated, as follows:--

[Illustration: No. 50.]

[Illustration: No. 51.]

[Illustration: No. 52.]

[Illustration: No. 53.]

[Illustration: No. 54.]

[Illustration: No. 55.]

[Illustration: No. 56.]

TWO METALS.

TITLES ABBREVIATIONS SYMBOLISATION.

1. Gold _Or_ Or No. 50.
2. Silver _Argent_ Arg. No. 51.

FIVE COLOURS

TITLES ABBREVIATIONS SYMBOLISATION.

1. Blue _Azure_ _Az._ No. 52.
2. Red _Gules_ _Gu._ No. 53.
3. Black _Sable_ _Sa._ No. 54.
4. Green _Vert_ _Vert_ No. 55.
5. Purple _Purpure_ _Purp._ No. 56

(In French Heraldry, _Green_ is _Sinople_.)

[Illustration: No. 57.]

[Illustration: No. 58.]

[Illustration: No. 59.]

[Illustration: No. 60.]

[Illustration: No. 61.]

[Illustration: No. 62.]

[Illustration: No. 63.]

[Illustration: No. 64.]

[Illustration: No. 65.]

EIGHT FURS (not abbreviated).

TITLES

1. _Ermine_,--black spots on white No. 57.
2. _Ermines_,--white spots on black No. 58.
3. _Erminois_,--black spots on gold No. 59.
4. _Pean_,--gold spots on black No. 60.
5. _Vair_,--alternate divisions of blue and white, Nos. 61, 62.
6. _Counter Vair_ (note difference of arrangement) No. 63.
7. _Potent_ (note different shape of divisions) No. 64.
8. _Counter Potent_ No. 65.

Two other Colours, or tints of Colour, are sometimes heard of--_Tenne_,
a tawny or orange colour, indicated by vertical lines crossing those of
_Purpure_: and _Murrey_ or _Sanguine_, a dark crimson red, indicated by
diagonal lines from both dexter and sinister, crossing each other. These
two are sometimes termed stains, but their real usage was in liveries.
The Furs, Nos. 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, and 65, are of comparatively rare
occurrence, and do not appear in the best ages of Heraldry. _Vair_ and
_Ermine_ are common. A good early form of _Vair_ is shown in No. 62: and
in No. 57A, I give a fine example of the treatment of _Ermine_, from the
monument of EDWARD III.

[Illustration: No. 57A.]

In order to avoid repeating or referring to the word “_Or_,” the word
“_Gold_” is sometimes used. The Furs, Nos. 61, 62, 63, 64, and 65, are
always _argent_ and _azure_, unless some other metal and colour be named
in the blazoning. Animated beings and all objects, that in Heraldry are
represented in their natural aspect and colouring, are blazoned
“_proper_” abbreviated _ppr._ Heraldic charges and compositions, when
sketched in outline with pen and ink or with pencil, and with the
colours _written_ thereon, are said to be “_tricked_,” or “_in trick_.”

VARIED FIELDS.--It is not necessary that the Field of a Shield, or of
any Bearing, should be of any one uniform tincture: but varied surfaces
are usually tinctured of some one metal and some one colour alternating;
and the patterns or devices thus produced are generally derived (the
Furs, Nos. 61-65, which are good examples of varied surfaces, being the
exceptions) from the forms of the original simple charges that are
distinguished as _Ordinaries_ and _Subordinaries._ And these varied
surfaces or fields are always _flat_; the whole of their devices or
patterns are _level_, their metal and colour lying in the same plane. It
is evident that, in representing any examples of this class, no shading
is to be introduced to denote relief.

[Illustration: No. 66.]

[Illustration: No. 67.]

Should the field of any charge be divided into a single row of