Nicholas (1680) and Charles Louis Fouquet (1684-1761) each adopted the coat of arms with a squirrel--looking for all the world like a lion--and the motto, "Quo non ascendam". Cardinal Mazarin, who died at Vincennes on the 9th of March, 1661, had many devices, the most common of which is the coat of arms, consisting of an axe bound up in a bundle of fasces, and surmounted by a cardinal's hat. These and many other figures which generations of bibliophiles have caused to be tooled on their books, point conclusively to what library any given specimen formerly belonged, though, as might be expected, it is sometimes a matter of great difficulty, or even impossibility, to identify particular volumes. Some amateurs discarded their own crests, and adopted others, for reasons which are not apparent, while women, as, for example, the Duchesse du Maine, who decorated her books at Sceaux with a golden bee-hive, appear to have possessed the most intricate armorial bearings, or to have been guided by mere caprice, in their choice of emblems. Many books bearing crests or coats of arms cannot, therefore, be identified, and for this reason, amongst others, the few books which have been written on this branch of the art of binding are necessarily incomplete. One of the best--which, moreover, contains some hundreds of woodcuts illustrative of various devices--is Guigard's _Armorial du Bibliophile_, 2 vols., 8vo, Paris, 1870-3, but this is strictly confined to French devices. Even Hobson's choice, however, is often better than none.[13] Although the sixteenth century was _par excellence_ the era of ornamental bindings, it cannot be said that England made much progress in the art. Up to the reign of Elizabeth we seem to have persisted in the use of clumsy oak boards or stiff parchment covers, and when a really choice and expensive binding was required, it took the form of embroidered silks and velvets. Queen Elizabeth herself was very expert in this method of ornamentation, which continued to exist, in all probability, simply because it was fashionable. The first English bookbinder of any repute was John Reynes, a printer, who lived in the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII. Specimens of his work are very rare, though, when compared with the French bindings of the same date, they appear miserably inferior. The truth is that England was--and, indeed, is--much behind some other countries in everything relating to bibliography, and binding in particular.