These were, in subsequent periods, borne as trophies by their families; and the methods of adorning a shield were reduced to a science; still generally used, and, therefore, of conse quench to be understood. Os.-The tatooing of the natives in the South Sea Islands, and the figures painted on the bodies of the aboriginal Britons, may be considered the heraldry of savages; for both with them and civilized nations, this art is traced back to superstition and slavery. 695. Heraldry is the art of blazoning or displaying coats of arms, in proper colours and metals, on the shield or escutcheon. The points of an escutcheon are nine ; Three, on the upper part; of which, the middle is called the chief; that in the right corner, the dexter chief ; and that in the left corner, the sinister chief. Three, perpendicularly in the middle part of the shield the first called the honour-point; the second, the fearpoint; the third, the navel-point. Three points horizontally, at the bottom: the middle one, called the base-point; the other two, the dexter and simster base points. 696, Tinctures are armorial colours; as or, gold; and argent, silver; azure, gules, sable, vert, and purpure; and ermine and vair. Obs.-These colours are represented on copper-plate prints as follow: 1. Or, is known by small pricks or points. 2. Argent, by the natural whiteness of the paper, without any strokes or points. 8. Avure, by hatches or strokes across the shield from side to side. 4. Gules, by lines from top to bottom. 5. Sable, by hatches erossing each other. 6. Vert, by hatches from dexter chief to sinister base. 1. Purpure, by hatches from sinister chief to dexter base. 8. Tenne, by cross hatches from right to left, and from left to right, 9. Sanguine, by hatches from right to left, and others from side to side. 697. Of the nine honourable charges,nob. The erger afflictions for religion (4 The chief denotes that the first bearer was a person in authority; The pale imports him skilled in mining, dodat The inescutcheon shows him to have been one who disarmed his enemy; The chevron declares him to have been the head of his family, The saltier implies he-behaved honourably at some siege; And the bar shows him to have been serviceable in rais ing fortifications. 698. The lines which compose or bound these charges, are esteemed additional notes of distinction; as, invected, ingrailed, waved, nebu-. lee, imbattled, raguled, indented, &c. They are always mentioned in blazoning; as, a chief invected, a pale ingrailed, a fess indented, &c. 699, The field of the escutcheon, is generally divided into two or more equal parts, by lines across the same; which partition must be mentioned in blazoning, Thus, if a line perpendicular to the horizon divide the shield equally, it is said to be parted per pale; if the line be parallel to the horizon, it is parted per fess; if from: right to left, it is parted per bend; and so of any other. 700. Common Charges are those figures which are painted within the field of the escutcheon; and they are taken from every kind of beings, natural and artificial. a. Angels, cherubim, &c, denote celerity in business, messengers of peace, &c. ̧* b. Men are honourable ensigns, as saints show that the first bearer was some bishop,,&c. Heads show him to h.. done service against Saracens, Turks, &c. Hands or arms signify strength and fortitude. Eyes denote his judgment Legs and feet indicate his swiftness: and the heart knowledge and understanding. c. Beasts of prey are more honourable than beasts of chase. The male is more honourable than the female. The whole is nobler than any of the parts; the natural or proper colour is better than any other. The free and regular posture, than the irregular and constrained. d. Of birds, the female is more honourable than the male, except the cock. Their native colours are better than artificial; and birds of prey, as eagles, falcons, &c. are most honourable. 1 e. Of fishes, the dolphin is the principal; and the most honourable bearing of fish, is nayant, or swimming: the next, springing; and then hauriant, or in an erect posture. f. Insects are rarely borne in arms; but the Ant denotes industry; and the Bee, a laborious and beneficent person. સ 1701. The postures are of great account; as, couchant, lying down; passant, walking; com batant fighting; rampant, reared on his right leg to fight; saliant, leaping at; guardant, looking towards you; regardant, looking back or behind; dormant, sleeping; seiant, sitting with the forefeet straight; endorsed, two in a rampant posture, with their backs towards each other. 702. The chiefs, or heads of families, or houses, bear two sorts of charges: a label of three points; and border, which are either plain, compound, indented, &c. For consanguinity, or kinsmen, the differences are accord. ing to the brauch of a family from which they originally descended. 703. Since these, are the bearings of distinction for persons of the first house; those of the second house, which is the family of the second son, have their distinctions as follow In like manner, the sons of the third house bear those differences respectively on a mullet; the fourth, on a martlet; the fifth, on an annu let; and the sons of the sixth house bear them on a fleur-de-lis: and though there be differences for every son, yet there are none for daughters, as they are all deemed equal in point of honour. 704. Of hatchments, or funeral achievements, the following things are observable. 1. When a batchelor dies, his arins may be depicted single or quartered, but never impaled; and on the batchment he may bear a crest, and the ground without the escutcheon must be all black. 9. If a maid dies, her arms must be placed in a lozenge er rhombus, single or quartered, with the ground ali black and the hatchment must have a shell over it instead of a crest. 3. When a married man dies, his wife's arms are imFaled with his down, with the ground black on his side of the hatchment, and white on his wife's wide. 4. When the wife dies, the arms are with the ground on her side black, but on her husband's white of a crest, her hatchment must have a shell over it. instead 5. If a widower dies, his arms are impaled with those of his wife, with a crest, &c., and the ground is all black. 6. If it be a widow, her arms with her husband's, are impaled within a lozenge shield, with a shell over it, instead of a crest, and the ground all black. 7. When the deceased is the last of a family, then, instead of a crest or shell, there is placed on the hatchment a death's head. Little shields, that draw hearses at pompous funerals, are called chaperonnes. XXXIV. Literature. 705. After the invention of letters, the genius of man taking different directions, some of them excelled in poetical, and some in prosaic compositions. These again assumed different characters, according to the subjects treated of. Hence we have in Verse, epic poems, descriptive poems, and elegiac, dramatic, and satirical poems: And in Prose-writing, we have historical, descriptive, didactic, and epistolary compositions in an almost infinite variety of kinds and qua |