Page:Archaeologia Volume 13.djvu/165

Rh reign he transferred the dragon to the sinister side. It may be presumed that it was from the partiality the king had to this badge that the dragon is so frequently displayed in the picture at Windsor Castle, representing the interview between the English and French monarchs; and as sir Joseph Ayloffe in his description suggests, it was probably from this circumstance there is seen on the top of the picture the figure of a dragon flying in the air over the English cavalcade. But in the sculpture under examination there is one object not noticed by Dr. Wallis that yet seems to have a connexion with the dragon volant, and, as already intimated, it will better correspond with the age of Henry the VIIIth, than with the age of either Henry the Ist or IIId; and that is the fleur de liz neatly carved, at least neatly engraved.

We may, it is true, observe this device in the crown of the first Henry, and a few other representations of it may likewise be traced; but it was not till the crusade of 1090 that even the king of France introduced the fleur de liz into his armorial shield; nor was it before the reign of our Edward the IIId that it had a place in the royal arms of England. From that time the display of it became frequent. I shall, however, only mention what I think cannot be deemed irrelative to the notion I have advanced, that in the Windsor picture, where there are four beasts supporting in their paws banners of the king's badges, one is a dragon bearing up a vane azure charged with a fleur de liz. Let us now take a view of the sinister division of the mantle-tree, and particularly of the shield bearing two capital letters, imagined by Dr. Wallis (and I concur in his opinion) to denote the initials of the names of the then rector of Helmdon. Probable is it, that not having a pretension to a coat of arms, he might thus mark the