Family-histories and genealogies : containing a series of ...

"Bioti^U
Elizabeth, then unmarried—coinciding with the tradition that William
Diodate, on returning to England after the death of his brother John, found
no property left to himself, the family having supposed him to be dead.
The sister Elizabeth Diodate afterwards married a gentleman by the
name of Scarlett. Col. Chester suggested that it may have been Anthony
Scarlett whose Will, dated May 8, 1750, and proved March i, 1757, by
his reHct Elizabeth, left his entire estate to her " as a testimony of the
great love and most tender affection which" he had "for the best of
wives."
In regard to her husband, however, we have no knowledge except by
his arms on pieces of silver which were sent by his widow to her grand-
nieces in this country. The whole shield is engraved, with minute attention
to colors and other details, on a large silver waiter ; and the crest is given
on a smaller waiter and on spoons now in possession of our family. Similar
arms are carried by branches of the Scarlett family in Suffolk, Essex,
Sussex, Norfolk and Shropshire, with slight differences. But the exact
arms, found upon our silver, with one minor exception, are those belonging
to the family of Baron Abinger (William Frederick Scarlett), which family
is also the only one of the name that uses supporters. Baron Abinger's
arms are Cheqiiy Or and Gu. a lion ramp. Erm ; on a canton Az. a castle
triple-towered Arg.; Crest : a Tttscan colit7nn cheqziy Or and Gu., sup-
ported on either side by a lion s gambe Ermines erased Gu. Supporters :
two angels vested Arg., tunics Az., wings Or, in the exterior hand of
each a sword in bend ppr., p07n7nel and hilt Or. On our silver the canton
is plain Azure ;
and the supporters, in a fanciful arabesque ornamentation,
are depicted as cherubs with an angel's head and wings on the body of a
lion, in a fashion which Burke condemns as "an absurd attempt of some
artists to display" the supporters " in picturesque attitudes" when
they should be "always erect." In addition to the Scarlett arms, as
represented on our silver, is an " escutcheon of pretence " in the centre of
the shield, with three mascles, or fusils, in chief, and what looks like a
pomegranate and leaves in base.
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