girl; but by the affistance of reason, reflection, and good advice and example, becomes an amiable woman, and a virtuous wife. Havenbrooke, afterwards lord Caftledown, is introduced to us as an unprincipled rake, and openly avows his design of entering into a criminal amour with lady Morpeth; but by her prudent conduct, and his own virtuous paffion for another wo man, he rifes into an exemplary and noble character. The count de Poland's brother also, whom we are taught at first to look upon as cruel, odious, and deteftable, becomes a fincere penitent, and reconciles himself to our favour. We wish the author had followed the fame line with regard to the enthufiafm of the dowager lady, and contrived fome means, which might have easily been done, to convince her of the folly and nonsense of Methodism.

A Complete Body of Heraldry: in Two Volumes. Illuftrated with Copper plates. Carefully compiled, from the best and most undoubted Authorities, by Joseph Edmondson, Efq. F. S. A. Mowbray Herald Extraordinary. Folio. 31. 75. in boards. Dodil.y.

Ffo large a fyftem of Heraldry as the prefent, compiled from the beft authorities, and executed in a fplendid manner, can derive additional advantage from any other circumstance, it must be from that of being the production of a gentleman fo peculiarly well qualified, both by his fituation and abilities, for the accomplishment of fuch an undertaking. Heraldry, reftricted to the art of blazoning, ferves only to gratify the vanity of particular individuals; but when confidered in a more comprehenfive view, it affords the most authentic documents that can be found, refpecting many tranfactions which, though worthy of being preferved upon record, come not within the province of general history. It is therefore intitled to the attention of an antiquary, upon principles more enlarged than the implicit veneration of whatever relates to former times. It is a science by which the defcendants of illuftrious ancestors may learn to emulate the qualities of their great progenitors; and by which may be excited in others the laudable ambition of tranfmitting to pofterity fuch honours as are earned by noble exertions of valour, wifdom, or virtue.

This work begins with a Hiftorical Enquiry into the Origin of Armories, and the Rife and Progrefs of the Science of Heraldry. After vindicating heraldry from the contempt which fome have endeavoured to throw upon it, and after fome general remarks on its advantages, Mr. Edmondfon proceeds to inveftigate the origin of this science. He obferves, that the heraldic writers vary fo extremely in their fentiments respecting

the

the origin and rife of armories, that there is hardly a point of time, between the establishment of the Egyptian monarchy and the thirteenth century of the Christian æra, which has not been named by one or other of them, as the period which gave commencement to the use of arms; neither is there any country, in Europe or Asia, that has not been fixed on as the place which gave rife to that science.

There are not wanting some rabbins, as well as later writers, who have ventured to affirm, that arms owe their beginning to reason and the light of nature; and that having been used in the antedeluvian world by the pofterity of Seth, in order to diftinguish themselves from the defcendants of Cain, they were, after the flood, continued among the children of Noah; the blazon of each of whofe armories, it feems, M. Segoin and his followers pretend to particularize.

Our author afterwards gives a particular recital of the various opinions that have been entertained on this subject. He obferves, it cannot be denied that the Egyptians, Hebrews, Affyrians, Perfians, Greeks, and other people of antiquity, used figures and fymbolical devices, as public and national military enfigns; and it must be allowed, that the chiefs among them reprefented also a variety of devices on their fhields and armour; but he remarks, that thofe devices were no other than the mere productions of the whim, fancy, and caprice of the wearers, and do not bear the leaft affinity to armories. We fhall present our readers with an extract from the author's judicious hiftorical account of this fubject, in the investigation of which he displays great accuracy and extent of research.

There is the greatest reason to conclude, that hereditary family arms are of German production and feudal origin; but the time in which they were first used in England is not equally cer tain. An enquiry into that fact, touching which there has been a greater diverfity of opinions than about the origin of the inftitution itself, is highly interesting, and well worthy of our refearches. Our Saxon monarchs have been confidered as the introducers of gentilial arms into this island, whilft, on the other hand, fome writers have maintained, that arms were used by the Britons at the very time that the Chriftian faith was first propagated here; and that Lucius, a pro-regulus in Britain in the 48th year of the Chriftian æra, took for his arms ar. a cross gules. Canute and his Danes have, in their turns, been honoured with the reputation of having firft taught our ancestors the use of arms. The learned and judicious antiquary, Mr. Arthur Agarde, conjectures, that arms came to us firft from the Normans, being brought in by Edward the Confeffor, and after. wards more plentifully practifed here by William the Conqueror, and the nobles who came over with him. Mr. Waterhouse, upon

what

what grounds is uncertain, fuppofes that gentilial armories were known here before that time; and that the first users of them were those few of the British and Saxon nobility, who kept their honours, fortunes, and feats, on the change of government made by duke William, and who, not having appeared in oppofition to him or his fons, held their ftations in the country, although the Normans enjoyed both the places and preferments in court and camp; and as they grew more habituated to his government, and he abated of his rigour, and by peaceable ruling became more calm, they ventured to fhew themselves more openly, and with greater freedom avowed their rights, by bearing thofe marks of honourable diftin&tion. The great Mr. Camden, who is followed by Peter Pitheu and others, thinks them of more recent date with us, and fays, that "fhortly after the Conqueft the estimation of arms began in the expeditions to the Holy Land, and afterwards, by little and little, became hereditary, when it was accounted an efpecial honour to pofterity to retain thofe arms which had been displayed in the Holy Land, in that holy service against the profeffed enemies of Chriftianity; and that we received, at that time, the hereditary use of them; but that the fame was not fully established until the reign of king Henry the Third; for that, in the inftances of the last earls of Chefter, the two Quincies earls of Winchester, and the two Lacies earls of Lincoln, the arms of the father fill varied from thofe of the fon." Sir Henry Spelman is of opinion, that they are of ftill more modern growth in this kingdom; for, fpeaking of the antiquity generally allowed to the ufage of arms in England, he obferves, that "this nation being for fome hundreds of years barraffed with wars, in the ftorm of foreign affaults, and civil commotions, there is little reafon to be over confident in matters of pedigree and arms much beyond four hundred years;' and expreffes his doubts whether they are even entitled to that antiquity, by adding," Nefcio an ea prorfus antiquitate."

Upon what authority the advocates for the ufe of gentilial arms being known and practifed in Britain during the Saxon government, ground fuch affertion, doth not appear, as all the hiftorians of those times are filent as to that matter. The horse of Hengift and Horfa---the devices by which the feveral kingdoms were diftinguished from each other during the heptarchy-.the golden dragon of Uter, furnamed Pendragon---the three different bearings attributed to his fon Arthur; to wit, first, two dragons endorfed, or; fecondly, three crowns; and, thirdly, vert, a crofs argent, with the Holy Virgin holding the infant Jefus in her arms, on the first quarter---the tunf borne by Ed. win king of Northumberland--the banner-roll of gold and purple hung over the tomb of king Ofwald at Bardney---the dragon, or, depicted on the banner of Cuthred king of Weffex at the battle of Bureford---the Saxon blazon, being azure, a crofs formée, or flowery, or; and that of the Danes, being or, femée of hearts, three leopards gules--- upon all which ftrefs hath been

laid

laid for proving the prevalency of the ufe of arms in this kingdom in thofe early times-- were no other than the military and imperial enfigus of the feveral monarchs who bore them, and were never confidered by them in any other light.

Hereditary gentilial arms were the fruits of the feudal law; and, as we have not any good reafon to imagine that either fuch law, or any of the cuftoms to which it gave birth, had gained a footing in England previous to the invafion of William the Norman, we cannot justly expect to meet with any family arms used. in this kingdom antecedent to that remarkable event. Notwithstanding this, fome writers have fuggefted that our English king Edward, commonly ftyled the Confeffor, who frequently vifited the court of his uncle the duke of Normandy, and was fond of the fashions and cuftoms there obferved, introduced many of them into England; and, among others, that of the use of family arms in confirmation whereof, they affert that Edward, by way of fetting an example to his fubjects for affuming fuch marks of diftinction, took for his own private arms--- Az. a cross formée, or, between five martlets of the laft, as we find them depicted in many places in this kingdom. Now, had this really been the cafe, it cannot reafonably be fuppofed that a fashion adopted and introduced by a prince fo much beloved by his pecple as Edward confeffedly was, fhould not be followed by all, or at leaft by the major part of the principal men in his kingdom, more especially as it was defigned for their honour and diftinction; and confequently that, if the use of family arms had then prevailed among the nobility and gentry of England, fome memoranda or traces of fuch practice must have been handed down to us: whereas nothing of that fort appears. The gene

ral hiftories of those times do not take the leaft notice of it; and Abbas Rievalenfis, Edward's profeffed hiftorian, who is extremely circumstantial even in the minuteft occurrences, which he thought redounded to his matter's character, is totally filent as to this matter; fo that no credit can be given to thofe modern writers, who would perfuade us that the practice of bearing family arms was first brought into England by the Confeffor. Further, there is not only great reafon to doubt the truth of the affertion, that Edward the Confeffor was the person who firft affumed the arms above described; but to think that they were the imperial enfigns of his elder brother Edmund Ironfide, and actually borne by him at the battle of Afhdon: for Margaret, who married Malcolm Canmore, king of Scotland, and was fifter to Edgar Atheling, and daughter of Edward the Elder, fon of king Edmund Irontide, ufed thofe very arms after the death of her brother, and fifter Chriftian, in teftimony of her right to the crown of England, as being the only heiress of the Saxon race, and actually had them engraved and fet up on the monastery of Dumfermling, of which he was the foundress, where they ftill remain. The cross formée, or, in a field azure, was the Saxon enfign; and therefore there is the greater likelihood

hood, not only that Edward the Confeffor, on his afcending the throne, took the imperial enfign of his late brother, rather than that he brought them as new-invented family arms from the Norman court; but alfo that Margaret of Scotland, in fupport of her claim to the English crown, would wear the imperial enfigns used by her grandfather, who had been king of England, and not fuch arms as had been firft affumed by her great uncle Edward the Confeffor, who had mounted the English throne, in prejudice to the right of her father, and confequently to that of her brother, and of herself,'

Our author next traces the origin and inftitution of the offices of the conftable, marshal, and earl marshal of England; delivering also the state of the concurrent and separate functions, jurifdictions, powers, authorities, rights, privileges, and dignities of those great officers. Some writers are of opinion, that the office of conftable was known to our Anglo-Saxon anceftors under the title of Stalhere, or Heretoch; but Mr. Edmondfon fuppofes, with greater appearance of probability, that it was imported hither by William the Conqueror, who appointed Ralf de Mortimer to be his firft conftable of England.

Concerning the inftitution of marshal, various alfo are the opinions which have been entertained. Mr. Edmondson obferves, that we find the word marshal used in the duchy of Normandy for an officer vefted with authority, before William's invafion of England; and he thence infers, that it likewife was introduced at the Conqueft. It appears from old records, that feveral officers, in different departments, bore the title of marhal: there were marshals of the king's horfes, of his birds, and of his mea fures, as well as of his household; the word marshal anciently implying no more than being the director, or having the overfight, charge, or ordering of a thing.

Mr. Edmondfon informs us, that the earlieft patent by which the appellation of earl was added to marshal of England, is that of the 12th of January, in the ninth year of king Richard the Second, granted to Thomas Mowbray, earl of Nottingham. It appears, however, that the style of comes marefcallus was far more ancient. Our author is of opinion, that this title arose from the perfons on whom the office of marshal was ufually conferred, being comites, or earls, at or before the time of their inveftiture; the word comes, in those ages, being used as a diftinction of office and judicature, and not as a title of dignity.

After giving a historical detail of perfons who have held the offices of conftable and marshal of England, the author recites the authority, jurifdiction, and functions of each of thofe offices; and afterwards proceeds to the origin of heralds, who were appointed to act under the conftable and marshal, in their VOL. L. Sept. 1780.

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