_The Arms of Richard, King of the Romans_ (Vol. viii., pp. 265. 454.). With every respect for such heraldic authorities as MR. GOUGH and MR. LOVER, I think the question as to whether the so-called bezants in the arms of Richard, King of the Romans, referred to his earldom of Poictou or of Cornwall, inclines in favour of the former: for instance, in 1253 he granted to the {654} monks of Okebury a release of suit and service within his manor of Wallingford, which charter has a seal appended bearing an impress of the earl armed on horseback, with a _lion rampant crowned_ on his surcoat, inscribed "Sigillum Richardi Comitis Cornubiæ." Now this inscription seems to identify the lion as pertaining to the earldom of Cornwall; surely, if the bezants represented this earldom, they would not have been omitted on his seal as _Comes Cornubiæ_. Again, a very high heraldic authority, one of deep research, Mr. J. R. Planché, gives this opinion on the subject: "The border bezantée, or talentée, of Richard, King of the Romans, is no representation of coins but of peas (_poix_), being the arms of Poitiers or Poictou (Menestrier, _Orig._, p. 147.), of which he was earl, and not of his other earldom of Cornwall, as imagined by Sandford and others. The adoption of bezants as the arms of Cornwall, and by so many Cornish families on that account, are all subsequent assumptions derived from the arms of Earl Richard aforesaid, the peas having been promoted into bezants by being gilt, and become identified with the Cornish escutcheon as the garbs of Blundeville are with that of Chester, or the coat of Cantelupe with that of the see of Hereford."--_The Pursuivant at Arms_, p. 136. A simple Query then would seem to settle this matter. Is any instance known of bezants occurring as the arms of Cornell previous to the time of Earl Richard, or earlier than the commencement of the thirteenth century? NORRIS DECK. Cambridge. _Greek and Roman Fortifications_ (Vol. viii., p. 469.).--J. H. J. will find some information on this subject in Fosbroke's _Grecian and Roman Antiquities_ (Longman, 1833). JOHN SCRIBE.