Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/26

14 When beside the arms the inscription or any part of it remains, both should be copied.

With regard to the mode of copying arms, this will vary with the materials on which they are found. If they are engraved on brass, they may be rubbed off on paper in the usual way, either with heel-ball or black lead. If carved on stone or wood, they may sometimes be copied either by the application of wet unsized paper, or by rubbing as just mentioned; but the heel-ball process is not then so suitable as the tissue paper and black lead. If they are on glass and accessible, they should be traced on paper. Where none of these modes are practicable, a drawing should be made of them, and this should be executed with the most scrupulous fidelity, even to the peculiar forms of the shield and charges. In copying arms or inscriptions by the application of wet unsized paper or by rubbing, it is very important to clear out the lines &c. well first with a wooden point and a brush, as the smallest line or dot is often too significant to be omitted, and a date may come off falsely owing to a little indurated dirt or paint. On no account should any use be made of metal points, because of their scratching the original.

If unable to copy the arms in any way, recourse must be had to blazoning (i. e. describing) them, but this, unless done by a well-informed herald, in technical language, is far from satisfactory. Care should then be taken to be quite sure of the charges, and to distinguish them from diapers and other ornaments; for such things have often been confounded with the arms. The material too on which they are executed, and the mode of execution, whether sunk, raised, painted, &c., should always be stated.

Differences will sometimes be found in arms meant for the same, that are not to be attributed to ignorance or inadvertence, but to the nature of the materials on which they are executed rendering the correct representation of certain forms and details difficult. Instances of this are met with sometimes, I believe, in enamel, but more frequently in painted glass and on tiles, though some modern writers have referred to examples on glass as of great authority where doubts have existed as to the exact bearing. The author of a work on painted glass recently reviewed in this Journal, whose practical acquaintance with the art, and extensive knowledge of the subject, make his remarks of peculiar value, says, "misrepre-