Heraldically interesting is the ex-libris of the library of the Château du Verdier de Vauprivas, French King of Arms, with the old war-cry of the Bourbons, _Mont-Joye St. Denis_! and the owner’s motto, “Fear no Evil.” “Clisson assura sa Majesté du gain de la bataille, le roi lui repondit: Connestable, Dieu le veeulle, nous irons donc avant au nom de Dieu et de Sainct Denis.”--_Vulson de la Colombière_. [Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF DU VERDIER, FRENCH KING OF ARMS.] [Illustration] CHAPTER IV. EARLY EXAMPLES. FROM 1574 TO 1650. From 1574 to 1650 French book-plates were not numerous, and very few dated examples are known, but the age of the plates can generally be approximately decided by their style. The French shields of this first period are almost invariably square in form, slightly curved at the bottom. As a rule, on early plates the supporters hold the shield upright on a base which rises on each side, or occasionally on a mosaic platform, on the squares of which are emblazoned the principal charges of the shield. This latter decoration, although exceedingly rich in appearance, seems to have fallen rapidly into disuse after 1650. At first the metals and colours are irregularly emblazoned, next they are indicated by the initials of their names, and finally (after 1638) are shown on the present system, although, it must be admitted, that on early plates the tinctures cannot invariably be relied on. French engravers, having the love of beauty more strongly developed than the desire for strict heraldic accuracy, often introduced shading in such a manner as to make it difficult to discriminate between heraldic and non-heraldic lines in their work. Prior to 1638 it was not unusual to “trick” the arms, by placing on them the initials of their metals or colours, as “o.” for or, “ar.” for argent, “g.” for gueules, etc.; whereas soon after the publication of the “Tesseræ gentilitiæ” of Father Sylvestre Petra Sancta, it became the custom to employ dots and lines in conventional forms to indicate colours, metals, and furs in heraldic engravings, in the simple but effective manner which is still employed. Of the early plates, many are of large size, suitable for the folio volumes which then formed the bulk of all libraries. The ex-libris of Lyons are especially notable for their magnitude, as, for example, that of Claude Ruffier. As in many cases designers’ or engravers’ signatures are found on plates which have no owners’ names, the use of the term _anonymous_, applied to such ex-libris, would have been ambiguous or misleading. I have, therefore, spoken of ownerless plates as nameless.