The plate of _Elizabeth Graeme_ of Philadelphia should be noted here, as it is the only example of an heraldic plate used by a lady of colonial times. It is fully described in the list. Leaving now these older plates of special interest to be discovered in the Lists, we turn to a few modern plates which are worthy of particular attention. [Illustration: Dan Webster] The plate of _Daniel Webster_ is a plain armorial with the motto, _Vera pro gratis_, on the ribbon below the shield. The etched plate of the late _James Eddy Mauran_, the early collector of American and other book-plates, was an armorial of very handsome appearance. The shield is surrounded with the style of decoration used on the Chippendale examples, oak leaves being used in lieu of mantling. An earlier plate in two sizes shows some differences in the design. The plate of the late _George W. Childs_ seems wholly in keeping with the career of its distinguished owner. The sword, broken into pieces by the quill, is depicted within an oval garter which bears the motto, _Nihil sine labore_. The words from Lytton’s Richelieu, _The pen is mightier than the sword_, are also given just within the frame. Coming now to mention a few plates of our well-known men of letters, we naturally accept the plate of _Oliver Wendell Holmes_ as worthy of the chiefest place. In this the motto, _Per ampliora ad altiora_, is given on a ribbon beneath a beautiful representation of the “Chambered Nautilus,” the Ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed main,-- The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purple wings In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings, And coral reefs lie bare, Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair. “If you will look into Roget’s ‘Bridgewater Treatise,’” said the Autocrat one morning, “you [Illustration: Oliver Wendell Holmes.] will find a figure of one of these shells and a section of it. The last will show you the series of enlarging compartments successively dwelt in by the animal that inhabits the shell, which is built in a widening spiral. Can you find no lesson in this? “‘Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea.’” [Illustration: JBM] A plain armorial plate with the motto, _Vitam impendere vero_, and the name in fac-simile of his autograph, was used by _J. G. Holland_.