CANTING ARMS.

Canting or allusive arms are coats of arms whose figures allude to the names, professions, &c., of the bearer; as a trevet, for Trevet; three herrings, for Herring; a camel, for Camel; three covered cups, for Butler; a pine tree, for Pine; three arches, for Arches, three harrows, for Harrow, &c. Such arms have been ignorantly described by some writers as of an inferior order, whereas there can scarcely be a greater proof of their antiquity and highly honourable character.

We will now proceed to the study of the points of the escutcheon, metals, colours, furs, partition lines, ordinaries, charges, and distinctions of houses.

It is highly necessary, before a person attempt to blazon a coat of arms, that he should be well acquainted with the terms and rules laid down in the following tables, which may be acquired by a little practice and application.

THE ESCUTCHEON.

The shield or escutcheon (from the Latin word scutum, a hide, of which shields are supposed to have been originally made,) represents the defensive implement of that name used in war, and on which armorial ensigns were originally borne. The ground or surface of it is called the field, and here are depicted the figures which make up the coat of arms.

The field of the escutcheon is divided into nine integral parts, used to mark the position of the bearings. They are termed the points of the escutcheon, and are clearly illustrated in Table I.

It should be particularly observed, that the side of the escutcheon which is opposite to the left hand of

the person looking at it is the dexter or right side of the escutcheon, and that opposite the right hand the sinister or left side. Great care should also be taken to understand the points; for the very same figures placed differently constitute distinct and different arms.

Note.-The chief is the top or chief part of the escutcheon, marked A, B, C; the base is the lower part of the escutcheon, marked G, H, I.

TABLE II. (PLATE II.)

TINCTURES AND FURS.

THE tinctures or colours generally used in the science of heraldry are red, blue, black, green, and purple; termed in this science gules, azure, sable, vert, and purpure. Yellow and white, termed or and argent, are metals:

Colours and metals, when engraved, are known by dots and lines; as OR, the metal gold, is known by dots; ARGENT, which signifies white, or the white metal silver, is always left plain; GULES, is expressed by lines perpendicular from top to bottom; AZURE, by horizontal lines from side to side; SABLE, by horizontal and perpendicular lines crossing each other; VERT, by diagonal lines from right to left; PURPURE, by diagonal lines from left to right. See the examples Table II (Plate II.) S. Petrasancta, an Italian herald, about two centuries ago, is said to have been the first who thought of expressing the tinctures by lines and points.

English heralds admit of two other colours, namely, orange, called tenné, and blood-colour, called sanguine ;

though their is no instance of their occurrence in British bearings. If used, tenné should be expressed by diagonal lines from left to right, crossed by horizontal lines; and sanguine, by lines crossing each other diagonally from left to right and from right to left.

FURS.

Furs are not only used for the linings of robes and garments of state, the linings of the mantle, and other ornaments of the shield, but also in the coat-armours themselves. They originally were limited to ermine and vair, but later heralds have added ermines, erminois, erminites, pean, vair-en-point, counter-vair, potent-counterpotent. All these may be seen under each head in the Dictionary of Terms; but for illustration we have selected only the most common in use: viz.,

Ermine,
Vair,

Ermines,
Counter-vair,

Erminois,
Potent.

ERMINE is described by sable spots on a white field, the tail terminating in three hairs: see Table II., n. 1. ERMINES is a field black, with white spots, n. 2. ERMINOIS is a field gold, with black spots, n. 3. VAIR is white and blue, represented by figures of small escutcheons, ranged in a line, so that the base argent is opposite to the base azure, n. 4.

COUNTER-VAIR is when escutcheons of the same colour are placed base against base and point against point, n. 5.

POTENT-COUNTER-POTENT is a field covered with figures like crutch-heads, termed potents counter placed, n. 6, potent being the old word for a crutch.

TABLE III. (PLATE III.)

PARTITION LINES.

SHIELDS are divided by lines, called partition lines, which are distinguished by different names, according to their different forms. These lines are either straight or curved. The straight lines are perpendicular, horizontal, diagonal dexter, and diagonal sinister; termed per pale, per fess, per bend, &c., as explained below. The shield is said to be party, or divided, by these lines; as thus:

PARTY PER PALE, or impaled is the field divided by a perpendicular line, as Pl. III., n. 1.

PARTY PER BEND is a field divided by a diagonal line from the dexter chief to the sinister base, as n. 2.

PARTY PER BEND Sinister is precisely the reverse of the above; the partition line running from the sinister chief to the dexter base, instead of from the dextor to the sinister.

PARTY PER FESs is a field equally divided by a horizontal line, as n. 3.

PARTY PER CHEVRON is a field divided by such a line as helps to make the chevron, as n. 4.

PARTY PER CROSS, or quarterly, is a field divided by two lines, the one perpendicular, the other horizontal, crossing each other in the centre of the field, as n. 5.

PARTY PER SALTIRE, is a field divided by two diagonal lines, dexter and sinister, crossing each other in the centre of the field, as n. 6.