By degrees the festoons of flowers and entanglement of ribbons were discarded, and the shield, similarly shaped, appeared destitute of ornamentation. The helmet was omitted, and the 'wreath' on which the crest should properly rest was placed, in a meaningless way, the fraction of an inch above the upper line of the shield, and entirely without support. After this, quite early in the nineteenth century, and during its first fifteen or twenty years, there came into fashion a design in English book-plates which we may term the 'Celestial' style. In this the shield is depicted as suspended in mid-air, with a background of sky or clouds, or else resting upon a cloud-built bank. It gave the designer very slight opportunity for the display of artistic taste; had it done so, the opportunity would probably have been neglected, for the designers and engravers of book-plates in this style were men of whom the world at large knows nothing. The shield, in book-plates of the time of which I am now speaking, was entirely without ornament, and of this shape-- [Illustration] The helmet was seldom introduced, so that the crest was placed in the same absurd position as that just described. The shield figured above is a fair specimen of that in vogue between 1810 and 1830. From the latter date to within a few years ago, the arms, in the majority of English book-plates, were represented in a more ornate shield. The helmet was reintroduced, and from it fell a slight mantling, somewhat similar to that which appears in our earliest examples. It is hardly necessary to indicate any particular specimens designed in these last-mentioned styles.