Notices of the Ellises of England, Scotland, and Ireland, from the conquest to the present time

20
in English blazonry), the eagle, the ordinaries, and other simple
devices. But still, the horse as an heraldic charge is to be
found plentifully in German coat armour ; one of the emblems
of the house of Hanover being a horse courant.
To conclude. As it is hardly probable that any discoveries
will hereafter be made, of a nature, or of an extent, to satisfy
the scepticism of those whom nothing will content but positive
proof, the claims of heraldry to an early origin must always
rest on circumstantial evidence ; and this, when the subject
is thoroughly considered, is so strong, so cumulative, as to
amount almost to demonstration. Indeed, it would be pos-
sible, by great labour and research, to make out such a reductio
ad absurdum as to be unanswerable. Were a vast genealogical
table prepared of the nobles and knights of Europe, down to
the twelfth century, with the arms attributed to them affixed,
such a result would be exhibited as would be entirely opposed
to all preconceived notions. We should look for the crown,
the sceptre, and the sword, on the escutcheons of kings, and
princes, and dukes ; and on those of great functionaries of
state, appropriate symbols of office. We should expect to
find an array of devices drawn from the whole animal and
vegetable kingdom, and of every object under the sun, typical
of moral and physical qualities ; and not such unmeaning
marks as the chevron, the fess, and the bend. These latter,
however, it is contended are " refinements," subsequently
introduced, as additional distinctions : but they stand alone,
as well as in composition, and constitute some of the most
ancient coats. In all the instances, ancient and modern,
where we know the origin of personal emblems, there is some
significance in the choice, and often some romantic incident
at the bottom of it. The crescent, the escallop, and the cross,
so prevalent in crusading coats, have an obvious allusion.
Canting arms have a meaning, as in the wolf's head of Hugh
Lupus ; and the jo<?/-icans of the Pe/-hams ; 21 the crozier in
21 Canting arms are ranked by Dalla- kind were in most cases, and especially
way, Porny, and other writers, as of the by barbarians, intended as pictorial re-
lowest class in their origin, and as assumed presentations of the personal or mental
by upstarts. This notion Mr. Lower and qualities of those who assumed them, and
others do not admit, adducing many of who by such superiority had arisen from
such which are of great antiquity, and a humble position to that of a military
borne by very ancient families. Probably leader. The arms of the kingdom of
all significant armorial bearings of this Leon are a lion ; probably it was founded