Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/266

 222 Sloan's Architectural Review and Builders' Journal. [Sept., or color upon color. Thus, if the Field be metal, the Charge must be color : if the Field be of color the Charge must be of metal. This fundamental law sweeps away at once all tendency to either indistinct- 'ness or discordance of coloring. What- ever is heraldically devised must always be pure and bright in color effect. Heraldry also allows the introduction of natural objects in their natural colors. In blazoning, the tincture of such objects is always expressed by the technical term Proper. It must be remembered by those about inventing coats-of-arins, or ensigns, that symbols with proper tinctures fail in distinctiveness ; and are very little better than unarmorial de- vices for signets. For any purpose of public display they are scarcely worth aught. Among heralds, these color terms are universal, except that vert being their common name for green, the French use Sinople for that tincture. Some of the early heralds, in the pride of place and authorship, not con- tent with one set of technical terms for tinctures, invented two other sets, one for sovereign princes and one for nobles, the gentry being blazoned with the general set already described. There seems also to have been a fourth set, whose components were synonymous with the popular terms for the colors, used for the arms of convicted trait- ors after sentence. Concerning this crochet, Kent, vol. i, p. 31, says : " And " if such coats [of traitors] are at any " time thereafter to be blazoned, it shall " be by the common and usual names " for the tinctures whereof it does con- " sist, as Yellow, Red, Black, &c, they "being esteemed unworthy of any De- "grees, Tokens or Notes of Honor." The Tinctures, alone, form Arms in some cases, though this is unusual. OR.— Kent, from Vallemont's Ele- ments of History, vol. i, p. 333, gives the arms of the French family of Men- essez as simply Or. GULES. — Eumenius de la Brect, an eminently valorous gentleman of Eng- land, who accompanied King Edward I, at the siege of Kilaverock in Scotland, bore only Gules. The family of Bubei, in Tuscany, bore the same color only. Vallemont, vol. i, p. 333. So also the family of Narbone in France. L'Etat de France, 1669. Yol. ii, p. 438. SABLE. — The ancient Counts of Tournay, as the same Yallemont asserts, bore in their shield only Sable The attached complete Table of Tinctures will be found extremely use- ful for rapid reference. Along with it we give, in detail, The Heraldic Color Lore, which has very considerable bear- ing upon the Symbolical Coloring of the Middle Ages. Note. We have spoken of the important invention by Petea-Sancta for expressing colors in engraved lines and dots. As a bibliographical curiosity, we give a tran- script of the title of the extremely rare book, first embodying this armorial con- venience, from a copy in full vellum, prime interior condition and good margin, belonging to the very valuable library of a gentleman of this city. " Siluestri a Petra Sancta Symbola Heroica. Amstelaadami apud Janssonio- Waesbergios & Henr. Wetstenium. do Ioc Lxxxn [i. e. 1682]." — 1 vol. sm. 4to. Many curious old copperplates, worked with the letter press, and a few wood-cuts. Fine portrait and arms of Petrus Aloysius Carafa, Cardinal- Archbishop of the German provinces, and Papal Nuncio; and an extended genealogy of the Carafa family. Petra-Sancta's system of giving the Tinctures is to be found on pages 313 and 314 of this bibliothecal gem. C. J. L.