angular pieces of stuff, or gussets, of the coat-armour of Alphonsus the Sixth, King of Spain, who, fighting in battle against the Moors, had his horse killed, and, being in danger was rescued, and remounted, by Don Roderico de Cissneres, who cut off three triangular pieces, or gussets, of the king's coat-armour, which he kept as a testimony, to show the king afterwards that he was the man who saved him for which the king advanced him to honour, graced his armorial bearing with three gyrons, Pl. 6, n. 1; and adorned it with a horse for a crest, to perpetuate to posterity the relief he gave the king, another example of the practice of inventing stories to account for heraldic charges. Note. When there is only one gyron in a coat, you may blazon thus, argent, a gyron sable, without mentioning the point from whence it issues, the dexter chief point being the usual fixed place. But if it stand in any other part of the shield, it must then be expressed.

GYRONNY is where a field is divided into six, eight, ten, or twelve triangular parts, of two different tinctures, and the points all uniting in the centre of the field; gyrons signify unity, because they are never borne single. Pl. v., n. 23. Gyronny of eight, argent and sable; name, Mawgyron.

HABECK, an instrument used by the clothiers in dressing cloth, two of them differing from each other in form, as Pl. xxv., n. 9. That on the dexter is copied from the tool, which is invariably made in that form the other, on the sinister, shows the form in which it is painted in the arms of the Clothiers' Company.

HABERGEON, a short coat of mail, consisting of a jacket without sleeves. Pl. XXIV., n. 17.

HAIE. See WEARE

HALF-BELT. Pl. xxiv., n. 3. Gules, two half-belts and buckles, argent; name, Pelham.

HALF-SPEAR, a term for a spear with a short handle. Pl. xxiv., n. 18.

HALF-SPADE. Azure, three half-spades or, the sides of the spade to the sinister. Pl. xxv., n. 16; name, Davenport.

HAND DEXTER, the right hand. Pl. xxxv., n. 32.

HAND SINISTER, the left hand. Pl. xxxv., n. 33. Argent, three sinister hands, couped at the wrist gules; name, Maynard.

HARP, the well-known musical instrument, the tones of which are produced from strings struck with the fingers. It appears to have been used from the earliest antiquity among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, though differing considerably in shape and in the number of its strings. The harp was the favourite musical instrument of the Britons and other Northern nations in the middle ages; and the high estimation in which it was held by the Welch and Irish is proverbial. It is naturally, therefore, very frequently met with as an armorial bearing, and is usually represented as Pl. xxxii., n. 17. The arms of the kingdom of Ireland are, azure, a harp or, stringed argent, now introduced into the royal achievement of Great Britain and Ireland.

HARPOON, an instrument used for spearing whales. Pl. xxv., n. 7.

HARPY, a poetical monster, feigned to have the face and breast of a virgin, and body and legs like a vulture Pl. vIII., n. 2. Azure, a harpy with her wings disclosed, her hair flotant or, armed of the same. This coat stands in Huntingdon church,

L

HARINGTON KNOT, a badge of the family of Harington. See Pl. xxxii., n. 33. And also under FRET.

HARROWS are instruments used in husbandry. Ermine, three triangular harrows, conjoined in the nombril point, gules, with a wreath argent and of the second, toothed or ; name, Harrow. Pl. XLI., n. 11.

HART, a stag; properly one in its sixth year.

HARVEST-FLY. Sable, a harvest-fly in pale, volant, argent; name, Bolowre. Pl. xxvi., n. 22.

HAT-BAND. Pl. xxx., n. 21. Gules, a chevron between three hat-bands argent; name, Maynes.

HATCHMENT is the coat of arms of a person dead, usually placed on the front of a house. See HATCHMENTS, Pl.

XX.

HAUBERK, a coat of mail.

HAURIANT, a term applied to fishes when represented palewise or erect, as if they were refreshing themselves by sucking in the air. Pl. x., n. 4.

HAWK, a bird of prey, and for its size a very bold and courageous bird, much used in heraldry. Pl. 1x., n. 20.

Planke.

HAWK'S BELL. Pl. xxxi., n. 35. Or, on a fess azure, three hawks' bells of the first; name, HAWK'S LURE. See LURE. HAY-FORK. Pl. xxviii., n. 8.

Argent, a hay-fork between three mullets, sable, is the arms of Conyngham. This bearing, also called a SHAKE-FORK, is more properly termed by the French a Pal-fourchâ, i. e., a Pale couped, forked, and pointed. We suspect that the appellation hay or shake fork is of popular and not heraldic origin.

HEAD IN PROFILE; the head and side face couped at the neck See Pl. xL., n. 21.

HEART. The heart is blazoned a human heart, and sometimes a body heart. Gules, a chevron argent, between three hearts or; name, Frebody. See Pl. XXIX., n. 21. HEATH-COCK. Pl. xxxiii., n. 18.

HEDGE-HOG. Azure, three hedgehogs or; names, Abrahall and Herries. Pl. xxvi., n. 6.

The

HELMETS. The helmet is armour for the head. ancients used to adorn them with some kind of monstrous device, as the head, mouth, or paw of a lion, to make them appear more terrible. But the mediæval practice was to place upon them figures of animals, or other objects by which they might be known, and which they called crests. Pl. XLII.

The first is the helmet of a king, prince, or royal duke, and is of gold, full-faced, with six bars.

The second is the helmet of a marquis, earl, viscount, and baron, which is of steel in profile, open-faced, and with five gold bars.

The third helmet, standing directly forward, with the beaver open, and without bars, for a knight or baronet. It should be of plain steel.

The fourth is a plain steel helmet sidewise, with the beaver close, which is for all esquires and gentlemen.

If two helmets are to be placed on the top of a shield, for the crests to be thereon, they must be placed facing one another, as if two persons were looking at each other; but if three helmets are to be placed as before-mentioned, the middlemost must stand directly forward, and the other two on the side facing towards it, like two persons looking upon the third. HERCE. See HARROW.

HIACINTH. See HYACINTH.

HEMP-BREAK, an instrument to make hemp soft and

fit for use. Pl. xxxiv., n. 10. Argent, three hemp-breaks sable; name, Hampsone or Hamston, alderman of London. HILTED, a term for the handle of a sword.

HOLY LAMB. See LAMB.

HONOUR-POINT is that point next above the centre of the shield, and is expressed by the letter D, Table I. HORSE. Frequently met with as a charge in heraldry. Sable, a horse argent, bridled gules; name, Trott. Pl. xxxi., n. 8.

HORSE-SHOE. This is the arms of Okeham, a town in Rutlandshire. In this town is an ancient custom, if any nobleman enters the lordship, as an homage he is to forfeit one of his horse's shoes, unless he redeem it with money. See Pl. xxIx., n. 17. Argent, six horseshoes sable, 3, 2, 1; name, Ferrers.

HUMETTY, OF HUMETTÉE, signifies an ordinary, which is cut off, and nowhere reaches the edges of the shield. See Pl. xxxvI., n. 14.

HUNTING-HORN. See BUGLE-HORN.

HURTS are roundles of the azure-colour. Pl. VIII., n. 12.

HYACINTH is a precious stone of a yellowish-red hue, and in heraldry is used to express the colour tenne. See COLOUR.

HYDRA, a fabulous creature, supposed to be a dragon with seven heads, as Pl. xxiv., n. 21. This is the crest of Barret.

IBEX is an imaginary beast, in some respects like the heraldic antelope, but with this difference, that it has two straight horns projecting from the forehead, serrated, or edged like a saw. Pl. xxxii., n. 4.

ICICLES are in shape the same as gutty. Various re the opinions concerning this bearing; some term