Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/175

 Notices of ^rcfjaeologicnl ^jJublicntions. THE PURSUIVANT OF ARMS ; or Heral.lry founded upon Facts. By J. R. Planchi:, F.S.A. Wuiciit. We welcome this volume as one among many signs of an extending conviction of the practical utility of an acquaintance with early heraldry. It is an attempt to separate the chaff from the Avheat, and to arrive at a knowledge of the usage of armorials from facts only ; discarding not only the fancies and puerile conceits of Gerard Legh, and those of the same school hotli in past and present times, hut also such as are found in the Book of St. Albans and the less imaginative treatises of Upton and De Bado Aureo. An excellent design is this, and well worthy of being fully carried into execution. Little has hitherto been done for the subject after this fashion. The thin quarto of Mr. Montague, published in 1840, was a work of promise and utility, and perhaps the best introduction to the heraldry of mediaeval times, but owing to its price it has not become known nearly so extensively as it deserves. The present is also a small volume. It is a slender octavo, widely printed, and illustrated Avith numerous appropriate cuts in the text ; and therefore it is unnecessary to say that it still leaves much to be desired. Judging from the work itself, we infer the investigation of the subject had not engaged the author's attention till a comparatively recent period ; yet some of his previous publications show no small amount of reading in quarters calculated to prepare him for the task. It has probably grown out of a paper, published in the Winchester volume of the British Archaeological Association, on early armorial bearings, in which he endeavoured to show the ordinaries were derived from pieces of metal or other substances used to strengthen or ornament the actual shield of war. This view of the matter he reproduces with much ingenuity, and a few additional examples, and he extends it to some of the subordinaries, but we think the ground too narrow for his superstructure ; yet, if the argument do not altogether carry conviction, it certainly has in several instances such an air of probability as entitles it to a creditable place among the various attempts that have been made to account for the early use of these peculiar forms. For his facts, the author has drawn largely on the rich stores contained in the Rolls of Arms published by the late Sir Harris Nicolas, particularly that which is designated in this volume " Glover's Roll," being the one better known as the Roll of Arms, temp. Henry III., and compiled, as Nicolas has shown good reason to believe, between 1240 and 1245. It is well to notice this, as by some inadvertence Mr.Planche has omitted to mention that it has been published, and the reader might suppose it to exist only in manuscript, and consequently not to be readily accessible : an omission the more remarkable, as the publication of the others is mentioned. Seals and sculptures have also furnished, if not their quota, yet a considerable number of important facts. We do not suppose the former have been underrated, but presume the examples were found too scattered to be easily available. Having discussed the ordinaries and subordinaries, the author proceeds to treat of the natural and artificial objects used as charges, and points out an allusive significance in many instances where the majority of readers would have been wholly unprepared to expect it ; the allusion being, in almost every case, to the surname of the bearer. If such charges were chosen for the play upon the names, the use of the surnames must of course VOL. IX. R