Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/167

 1868.] Heraldry. 139 words, without move than one significa- tion, both or all, equally appropriate. What of the recondite, or the esoteric, is, to the comprehensive student, in- volved here, we will not pause to discuss ; but, adopting the language of the ladies, would remark, in passing, that surely a diamond must be a proper field for con- taining the heraldic sj'mbols of the fair and brilliant sex. As crests are the sup- posed ornaments of helmets, no woman, but a sovereign, is by armorists al- lowed to display a crest over her coat of arms, or upon her carriage, although she can transmit the paternal crest to her male descendants. This is as if the blood of the race were a subterranean river, sinking within the earth for a while, to re-appear upon its surface, with intensified clearness and undiminished volume. Both the heater and the loz- enge are conformed in the position of their points to the oblong square or par- allelogram, thus : the lower half of the heater corresponding very nearly with the same portion of the lozenge. Or, if we suppose the arms to be paint- ed upon the par- allelogram, and these other two forms to be trans- parent screens, or diaphragms, laid upon it, then the arms would be limned upon the heater, or the lozenge, precisely as the} 7 appear through, from the parallelo- gram. There is an allowance to make on the lozenge in the case of figures occupying the upper portion, or chief of the escutcheon, it being both usual and proper to depress their lower bounda- ries considerably below the point they occupjr by rule in either a heater, or a rectangular shield. Borders also, both in heaters, or other curved shields, and lozenges, manifestly conform to the out- lines of their particular escutcheons. The Italians in their blazoning always use an oval shield, mostly the great / / / 1 / i V Y >,■ / // / y x - /./' < > polar section of a prolate spheroid, of which the nearest very popular exemplar is a well-shaped egg, although sometimes they use the same section of an oblate spheroid, best popularized by a plump turnip. All these and other usual forms will be given in our next paper. In ordinary inexpensive drawings, or engravings, heraldic shields are depicted as if flat. If more time or expense can be devoted to them, they are brought up into more or less convex relief. The light is taken as in architectural draw- ings, from the upper left hand corner at an angle of forty-five degrees. As seen above, the almost invariable material of shields for use was and is heavy leather, variously prepared. Sometimes the leather was stretched over a light frame of wood. Thin metal strengthened by arching, or by corrugating the shield itself, and by thicker metal borders, ap- peared occasionally, as dress-swords now, oftener for display on parade than use. Almost universally there was " Nothing like leather." As the shield was leather, there was nothing easier than to cut the ordina- ries and charges out of leather also, and thus give additional prominence to the bearings or figures upon the shield, by relief, as well as by color. The old her- alds speak of the ordinaries as derived from strips or bands of bright-colored cloth, sewed upon the habits of the re- tainers of the knights, who designed jousting at any " passage of arms ;" and forming thus a livery, or, more honora- bly, perhaps, an uniform, which prac- tice, from showing personality of adher- ence on coats, was finally extended to shields, the follower adopting the war- like distinction of the leader — hence the title, " coats-of-arms." If sculptured on halls or monuments, escutcheons are generally made very bold ; and the fig- ures, or, armorially speaking, charges must be superimposed in alto relievo. And, as the tinctures, which would be