The whole of this large undertaking was worked by some well-born German mother as an heirloom to her offspring. At the right hand corner, done upon a separate piece of finer canvas and afterwards applied to the ground, is a shield of arms, _sable_, three lions rampant _or_ armed and langued _gules_ two and one between a fess _argent_; at another corner, but worked upon the canvas ground itself, a shield, _gules_ three bars dancetté _argent_; upon a third shield, _argent_, a fess dancetté _sable_; on the last corner shield, quarterly _or_ and _gules_, a fess _argent_; upon a smaller shield in the middle of the border, _sable_ a pair of wings expanded _argent_; on the border opposite, party per fess _sable_ and _or_, two crescents _argent_; in the centre of the next border, _gules_ two bars (perhaps) _sable_ charged, the upper one with three, the lower with one, bezants or plates; and last of all, upon the other border, _or_, a lion rampant, _gules_ with chief vair, _sable_, and _or_. Repeated at various places are a vase surmounted by a cross with two birds, half-serpent, half-dove, sipping out of the vessel; and below this group another, consisting of two stags well “attired,” each with one hoof upon the brim of a fountain out of which they are about to drink. This latter symbol is evidently a reference to the Psalmist’s hart that panteth after the fountains of water, while the former one is a representation of the union of the serpent’s wisdom with the simplicity of the dove. In many ancient monuments the upper half of the bird is that of a dove, the lower ends in a snake-like shape with an eye shown at the extremity of the tail. There are five long rhythmical inscriptions on this cloth, in German, one at every corner, and the longest of all in the middle; considering the period at which they were written, these doggerel verses are very poor, and run nearly as follows:-- “ALS . MAN . ZALT . FUNFZEHN . HUNDERT . JAHR. DARZU . NOCH . ACHTZIG . UND . FUNF . ZWAR. HAT . DER . EDEL . UND . VEST . HEINRICH. VON . GEISPITZHEIM . DIE . TUGENTREICH. ANNA . BLICKIN . ZUM . GMAL . ERKORN. WELCHE . VON . LIGTENBERG . GEBORN. BEID . ALTES . ADELICHS . GESCHLECHT. ZUSAMMEN . SICH . VERMEHLT . RECHT. DAMIT . NUHN . IN . IHREM . EHESTANDT. VLEISIG . HAUSHALTUNG . WURDT . ERKANDT. HAT . SIE . IHREM . TUNCKERN . ZU . EHRN. DEN . HAUSRAHT . WOLLEN . ZIRN . UND . MEHRN. DARUMB . MIT . IHRER . EIGNEN . HANDT. DIES . UND . NOCH . VIEL . ZIERLICHS . GEWANDT. ZU . IHRER . GEDACHTNIS . GEMACHT. MIT . BEIDER . NECHSTEN . ANGHEN . ACHT. MIT . GOTT . IHRH . TUNCKERN . D . KINDER . ZART. AUCH . SIE . ERHALTE . BEI . WOHLFAHRTH. DARNEBEN . VERLEIHEN . GEDULT. DAS . WIR . BEZAHLN . DER . NATUR . SCHULT. NACH . VOLLPRACHTEM . LANGEN . LEBEN. UNS . ALLEN . DIE . EWIG . FREUD . GEBEN. AMEN. OBGMELTER . HEINRICH . DICHTET . MICH.