A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FIGURES. .27
position, as a lamb passant, because it is naturally simple. A serpent gliding or
circling in a knot, because remarkable for these postures.
VI. All things that have fore and hind parts, ante and post, should be carried in
are said to be
armories, looking to the right side ot the shield ; if to the left, they
contournc. When two animals are in one field, they are always placed ufronte,
and look to one another, by the Germans, but not so by other nations. Of which
afterwards.
VII. Heralds tell us also, that when arms of subjects are set up, or painted, near
the place where the sovereign ones are,
all the creatures in the arms of the sub-
jects are to be turned looking to the sovereign's. As Sylvester Petra Sancta,
" Sicubi tamen simulacrum, aut stemma principis, fuerit medio loco a dextra le-
" vaque, icones omnes gentilitium parmularum, eo convert! debere." And the
same says Bartolus de Insigniis. When creatures are painted upon banners, they
must look to the staff; when upon caparisons and other horse -furniture, they ought
to look to the head of the horse or beast that bears them ; and so of all things
whose parts are distinguished by ante and post.
VIII. As the right side is nobler than the left, so the upper part of the shield is
more noble than the lower part ; therefore, tokens granted by sovereigns to sub-
jects are always placed in chief.
IX. All things in arms, being of their own natural colour, are blazoned proper ;
such as grapes, peacocks, &c.
X. The most commendable part of any creature, in armories, is the head ; for
that, say heralds, shows that the bearer feared not to stand before the face of his
enemy.
These are the general observations given by heralds concerning
the common
charges ; whose nature to describe is not the business of those who act the part of
a herald, but rather that of a natural philosopher, or of those conversing in hiero-
glyphics, emblems, and devices, which are composed only upon the consideration
of the nature and qualities of the creatures ; whereas in armories there are many
other reasons, occasions, facts, and events, which bring those creatures into armories.
These I may have occasion to mention, as I treat of them separately, in the
arms of particular families, and blazon them in
position, disposition, and situation in the shield.
the terms of heraldry, as to their
I have already treated of the position, disposition, and situation of figures, as
they accompany the ordinaries, and shall here insist a little, as they are situate
alone without the ordinaries, and especially as to the number of figures in a
shield. Number is counted by some to be one of the elements of armory, without
which arms cannot be, for in them there must be some number, either of lines,
tinctures, or resemblances of things.
Number then, (or rather things numbered in arms) is finite or indefinite. Finite,
whose number is certain ; as one, two, three, or more : Indefinite, whose number is
uncertain in armories, as when they exceed sixteen, and are irregularly situate.
Arms may be looked upon as good
and warrantable of whatsoever number of
things they consist; yet the beauty of arms consists in a certain number of figures,
keeping their due distance, fullness, and identity in the shield, which are called
armorial numbers, and should be taken notice of, especially by those who give out
arms to the public.
By an armorial number of figures, whether even or odds,
I understand those
figures which, being alone in the shield, are so situate, that in every rank one decreaseth
to the base, and there end in one, which most agreeably declines to the
form of a triangular shield, and gives a beauty to the eye.
Of all even numbers, those of six and ten can be so situate ; as, for example,
azure, six besants or, 3, z and i. And gules, ten lozenges argent, 4, 3, 2 and i,
by the surname of CRISPIN in England, as in Plate IX. fig. 13.
Figures of other even numbers cannot be so disposed to beautify the field, except
they accpmpany other things, as two, a bend, four, a cross, and as many the
saltier ; eight fill handsomely a bordure twelve ; may accompany a cross and sal-
tier, placing three in each canton ; and also sixteen, the same two ordinaries ;
placing four figures in each canton ; as in the arn\s of the ancient family ot
MONX.MORENCV in France, or, a cross gules, betwixt sixteen alerions