A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

200
OF THE SUB-ORDINARIES.
Sylvanus Morgan, amongst his other fancies, and especially of the pile, a peculiar
figure with the English, will have it to be the symbol of fire and water ; tui
the pile among the ancients, says he, was the hieroglyphic of the element fire,
which terminates in a point, mounting upwards, and, after its form, monuments of
kings and princes were so built ; as the pile of fire purifies all things, so it is the
emblem of a faithful man : He gives, for instance, the bearing of one of the name
of FURNEAULX, who carried sable, a pile indented argent ; which, says he, was no
other but a rebus for his name, showing the trial of the furnace ; with the motto,
Probasti me. And again, as the pile represents water, it is the emblem of a patient
man ; whose motto is, Irnmota triumphant. And our author tells us, that Sir Hugh
Middleton, who brought in the river water of Thames to serve the city of London,
in memory thereof, altered his old arms, being argent on a bend vert, three
wolves' heads erased of the first, and in place of a bend, took a pile. And those of
the name of WATERHOUSE in England, descended of an ancient family, designed
AQUEDOME, in the county of Lincoln, whose seat was upon water, carried or, a pile
ingrailed sable, as Plate IX. fig. I.
Holmes, in his Academy of Armory, where he blazons the arms of Monsieur df
la SUN or SUND, azure , a canton argent, with five piles issuing therefrom or, tells us,
that the ensigns of English companies of soldiers, of old, were distinguished by
piles ; the colonel and lieutenant-colonel's company's ensigns had only cantons ;
but the major's company's ensign had a pile waved or plain, issuing from the
canton ; and the eldest or first captain's company had two piles issuing from the
canton ; and the second company's ensign, three piles, &-c.. So that I find the
pile has been a distinguishing figure of old with the English.
SEYMOUR Duke of SOMERSET, Earl of HERTFORD, Viscount BEAUCHAMP, Baron
SEYMOUR, &-c. quarterly, first and fourth or, on a pile gules, betwixt six flower-deluces
in pale azure, three Lions of England of the first ; second and third gules,
two wings conjoined in lure or, the paternal coat of Seymour, Plate IX. fig. 2.
The first is a coat of augmentation, which King Henry VIII. conferred upon Edward
Seymour of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, when he took his sister Lady Jeun Seymour
to be his queen, who was the mother of Edward VI. He had the titles abovementioned
conferred upon him by Henry VIII. Upon that king's death, he was
made Earl Marshal of England for life, and from the young king and his council
he received his patent of Protector and Governor of the King and the Kingdom ;
but, by an attainder in the year 1552, he lost his fortune, honours, and head, on
Tower-Hill, January 24th ; so that his son Edward did not enjoy them till the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was honoured with the title of Lord Beauchamp
and Earl of Hertford; and his son, William, again, by King Charles I. was made
Marquis of Hertford ; and after the restoration of King Charles II. was again advanced
to the title of Duke of Somerset. I shall here add, to satisfy the curious,
the blazons, of this noble family, by the German Jacob Imhoff", " Insignia Sey-
" morum gentilitia, alas binas deauratas, sibi connexas t expansas, sed deorsum
" versas in campo coccineo, representant ; his Rex Henricus VIII. honorificum
" addidit auctarium cui priores partes locum tribuere solent, nempe, parmam au-
" ream sex coeruleis liliis ornatam quae inter palus in cuspidem attenuatus, & tribus
" Anglise leonibus, decoratus descendit." Here he latins the English pile as a pale
fitche, pains in cuspidem attenuatus. The same author, in his blazon of HOLLIS Earl
of CLARE, latins piles, pil