Section III. treats of Genealogies:

"The defire of tracing an original from the most remote founder," fays Mr. D." feems to have been one of the earliest inclinations in the mind of man. Genealogy was certainly the first purfuit of a scientific nature that occurred to the minds of our primæval anceftors, after the conveniences of life had been procured by mechanical inventions. The ufe of arms was clofely connected with this ftudy. -By the fully quartered efcocheon a compendious fcheme of connections was prefented at one view, and a general idea communicated, of the comparative claims of each family in the fcale of hereditary dignity. To determine the right of introducing the arms of others into the efcocheon, and to diftribute them, when allowed, in their proper gradation, opened a field of profeffional ability which required the moft diligent application to the laws and confirmed practice of arms." P. 114.

We here find alfo an account of the marks used by merchants and others not entitled to bear arms, of which, Mr. D. fays, "nothing can be more fanciful than their form, compofed of lines joined together in a thapelefs figure which defies defcription, but in which the diftorted initial letters of the merchant's name who ufed them may fometimes be decyphered." Our ingenious antiquarian then treats of the rebufes common in the 15th century of the origin of the establishment of the Herald's College-of their perquifites of office-of their vifitations, and of the analogy of Gothic architecture with Heraldic ornaments. On the latter fubject the au

thor thus fpeaks:

"I know not if I fhall be indulged in fo much conjecture as the following analogy between the progrefs of Gothic architecture and that of Heraldic ornament. The era of both in their ftate of the greatest purity and perfection, was the 15th century.

"In the Norman reigns the Baronial fortreffes were maffive, of fquare or circular form, and the implements of fortification and war were vaft and rude. The efcocheons were then occupied by the fimple ordinaries. When the more minute and florid embellishments of mafonry were introduced, a greater variety of charges was borne in the shield, and both were progreffively increased, till taste originated in the neceffity of the felection. During the 15th century the efcocheon enriched with numerous quarterings, had that air of chastenefs and profufion at the fame time by which thofe beautiful ftructures are diftinguished. And when that style, under the auspices of the fucceeding Princes, degenerated into filligraine by the multiplication of small parts, and was made incongruous by the intermixture of the members of Grecian architecture, the idea of beauty seems to have confifted in redoubling the elements and loading them with the ornamental particles. Thus in the grants of arms before mentioned, every poffible variety was fought by employing all the changes of which the fyftem of Heraldry is capable. Such were thofe given by King Henry VIIIth to his Queens, Anne Bulleyne and Jane

3

Jane Seymour; of the fame æra likewife are the augmentations of honour granted to the family of Howard, after the victory of Flodden Field." P.175.

Section IV. contains the Biography of the principal perfons who have written in elucidation of the fcience of Heraldry, with copics of a few of the certificates of the funerals of noblemen, &c. preferved in the Herald's College, it being amongst the laws of chivalry that the Heralds fhould attend to regulate, among others, funeral proceffions, at the fame time that it was one of the molt important of their modern duties to regifter the heirs of the deceased.

Section V. relates to the origin of furnames, and the state of Heraldry under the reign of Charles I. part of which is too curious and interefting to be omitted.

"The royal caufe was very generally fupported by the nobility and gentry, who held the Republican party in the higheft difparagement, as compofed of the meaneft of the people. Where fo much was refted upon the claims of gentility, the great eftimation in which the enfigns of it were held, was a natural refult, and upon no cuftomary occafion was the ufe of them omitted. In the contempt for those who either neglected, or had no pretenfions to them, originated a ftronger attachment and a more oftentatious display. Despoiled of their property or eftates by the victo rious Republic, many of remote ancestry had nothing to tranfmit to their fucceffors but the fatisfaction of innate noblenefs, which is known 10 refide in fome minds after the deprivation of external fupport, and which thofe only will fcorn who has never required fuch confolation, or who being totally difqualified by their parentage, could never receive it.

"It was only by many of the latter defcription among the Republicans, that Genealogical inquiries and pretenfions were held in fo low a degree of efteem, for in the grand divifion of the English subjects in that important caufe, thofe of the nobility and gentry who from motives of intereft or opinion embraced the popular queftion, were ftill ambitious of their due rank, and that they might repel the afperfions of the oppofite party, adduced every proof of their former recognition in the registers of the Heralds. Of this inclination Cromwell himself gave the most public demonftration, for no fooner had he gained the fupreme command of the army, than his bannerols exhibited his paternal bearings, amplified with numerous quarterings; and when he obtained the Protectorate, the national enfigns were fubflituted for thofe of royalty, but the inefcocheon of Cromwell was invariably placed in the centre both upon his ftandards and coins.

"With whatever contempt Cromwell, before he became Protector, had treated royalty, and fpurned at every ceremony and enfign by which it was denoted, no fooner was he invefted with the power but he affumed the pageantry of a King. Whether he had a perfonal attachment to armorial bearings and family honours, or confulted thofe modes which were most confonant to the opinion of

the

the people, whofe efteem he was anxious to conciliate, may admit of fome doubt, but fhould be rather attributed to the latter motive. His peers of parliament were created by patent, in the margin of which, amongst other ornaments, are a portrait of him in regal robes, and his paternal efcocheon with inany quarterings." p. 279.

This fection treats alfo of the decline of the Courts of Chivalry, an inflitution which in the early times was purely and impartially adminiftered, and, in the opinion of our author, contributed very effentially towards the improvement of fociety and the refinement of manners.

Section VI.

Treats of the Inveftiture of Heralds.

Ceremo

nial of their Creation, &c. with accounts of heralds not taken notice of in Sect. 4th.

Section VII. Treats of the compilation of Pedigrees, modes of marshalling Arms, Cognizances, Crefts, &c.

It is fair to allow every man to fpeak well of his favourite purfuit, and as Mr. Dallaway has done it with ingenuity we will lay his recommendation of heraldry before our readers. We cannot indeed agree with this author that the mifapplication of claffical learning, to the erroneous illuftration of heraldry, is any proof of the connection of that study with literature; but of the ufe which may be derived from it by the antiquarian, and occafionally even by the hiftorian of the latter ages, we are fully fenfible.

"It has been a general, but ill-founded cenfure, that heraldic knowledge is unconnected with claffical learning, or philofophical utility; and that because fome of otherwife very limited powers have been eminently verfed in fuch subjects, [that] it is unworthy the acquirement of more enlarged minds. To refute this opinion, I hazard an obfervation. Few enquiries have employed more claffical information, however it be mifapplied by feveral authors, who have referred the origin of heraldry to hieroglyphics, or Roman antiquities, and have been ambitious to difplay all their ftores of literature, in quotations not always of the apteft analogy. Bolton and Philipot were fo well verfed in mythology that we fee them perpetually tracing the common heraldic figures, which are known to have been invented in the fourteenth century, to prototypes which are peculiar to Egypt, or to Greece; and, however their pedantry may deferve ridicule, it mouft be allowed, that their learning was applied to investigations which were then thought fufficiently important.

To extend the powers of memory, confidering them merely as mechanical, no purfuit will fo effectually ferve as that of heraldry. The mnemonic art has been formed upon various elements; but few are to be preferred before that univeríal acquaintance with armorial bearings, which fome memories are able to retain. By an immediate recollection of the component parts of the heraldic fymbol, we are led to the history of the family to whom it is appropriate; and various circumstances recur to the mind, of which the former knowledge would by no other

BRIT. CRIT, VOL. IV.

$

SEPT. 1794.

means

means have fo forcibly recalled. To keep alive the fleeting images of things, and to lighten intellectual burthens, nothing has been difcovered more conducive than the artifices of memory. If the history and antiquities of our own country be worthy attention, a complete know. ledge of heraldry will, by ftrengthening the retentive faculty, teach us to be fcrupulous both in chronology, and identity of perfons, and by its infeparable relation to them, furnish that decifive information concerning both, which conjecture, or philofophical reasoning, could never fupply.

To the young ftudent of English antiquities, heraldry affords conftant information and amufement. When he furveys the repofitories of the illuftrious dead, how many an uninfcribed monument will he be enabled to difcover and appropriate! Amidft the pomp of elder days, and the proud reliques of feodal magnificence, he will recognise the fymbol by which thofe who founded or improved the ftructure are notified to pofterity: he will inveftigate with principles, which reft, not upon ingenious conjecture, but certain proof. These are the means by which topography is rendered interefting: for, however neceffary the embellishment of learned commentaries, or philofophical inquiries may be to its perfection, fimple facts, incontrovertibly afcertained, muft form the ground work.

As to the extent of the ftudy, there have been few who have pursued it with every advantage of longevity and perfeverance, who could boast that all its refources were exhausted by them: there are abundant opportunities of gaining information in our public libraries, and in many public collections, and perhaps no field of literature offers greater inducements of novelty and entertainment. But to those who have had access to the library of the College of Arms, I need only refer for a confirmation of my opinion, whilft I indulge fentiments of the trueft refpect for that liberal and well-informed fociety, whofe urbanity I am proud to acknowledge." p. 352.

Subjoined to the feventh fection, and in the fame type as the notes to the work, are fome ingenious obfervations and conjectures on the origin of many armorial bearings, or as the author terms them, heraldic enfigns, which he very properly ftyles the elements of heraldry, A large appendix, printed alfo in small type, contains many curious articles of illuftration to the body of the work.

This book is printed with every advantage of typographical elegance, and is a proper book to be fo adorned. It is addreffed to purchafers who are able to indulge themselves in expenfive curiofities. It contains, befides vignettes and other ornaments, near thirty plates, which muft of themselves have made it a book of high price. Among the plates we fhould not omit to diftinguish the portrait of Sir William Dugdale, engraved by Burché from an original picture in the College of Arms. It is a fpirited and excellent Head, and the infertion of it is furely a proper teftimony of refpect to a herald fo illuftrious.

The

The book is in all refpects deferving of commendation, It is not only well printed, and drawn up with judgment, but written in general with fpirit and elegance, and certainly has abundant claim to attention from all connoiffeurs in heraldry, and every lover of that study.

ART. IV. Domestic Anecdotes of the French Nation during the laft Thirty Years, Indicative of the French Revolution. 8vo. PP. 443. 6s. 6d, Kearsley, 1794.

THIS

HIS is a very interesting and entertaining Volume and were we but fatisfied that the documents which it has followed are authentic, we should have little hesitation in afferting, that its contents would be of material ufe to fome future hiftorian. These anecdotes are taken from the most popular publications which for the last thirty years have been circulated in France. But, unhappily both for the cause of truth and hiftory, there is in the greater part of fuch publications, abundant reafon to fufpect the honesty, accuracy, and motives of the writers. It was the business of those who were hoftile to monarchy, and who meditated its ruin, to select and to amplify all thofe incidents which might tend to render it odious; while on the other hand corrupt as the French court, and the higher orders indubitably were, the purity of thofe also who vindicated the aristocratic cause, can hardly be exempted from fufpicion. The writer of the book before us is evidently a friend to the revolution, perhaps to the democracy, though that partiality never intemperately obtrudes itself; nevertheless the pains he has taken to concentrate from a variety of fources, circumftances and anecdotes, unfavourable to the nobility, the clergy, and the court, fufficiently show the complexion of his prejudices.-The volume is not unfkilfully arranged, and the order he pursues is this. He commences with a kind of history of the French philofophers, fome of whom might, and each of whom profeffed, only to have in view the happiness of their fellow citizens. From the philofophers he proceeds to the clergy, from the clergy to the court, and with no lenient hand exposes the vices, and defcants on the corruptions of both. The tyranny of the minifters, and the audacious conduct of their fubalterns, are now placed before the reader, who certainly cannot peruse this fection, without a juft mixture of aftonifhment and indignation. The national levity, and particularly as displayed in the fubject of the Parisian theatres, and the favourite actors, are next in fucceffion; and at this particular portion

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among