[160] It is a fact not unworthy of notice that Nicholas Breakspeare (Pope Adrian IV) and William Shakspeare both bore canting-arms; the former, 'Gu, a broken spear, or;' and the dramatist, 'Argent, on a bend sable, a spear of the first.' [161] Debrett, edited by Wm. Courthope, Esq. [now Rouge-Croix.] [162] Essai sur les Noms, &c., I, 240. [163] Brydson's Summary View of Heraldry, pp. 98-9. [164] Menestrier. [165] Study of Heraldry, p. 70. [166] Berry, Encycl. Herald. [167] The ducal coronet antiently denoted command, and the chapeau, dignity; but in their modern application they have no such meaning. [168] Edward III is the first monarch who introduced a crest (the lion statant-guardant) into his great seal. But this cannot be regarded as the first instance of the use of crests, for they appear nearly half a century earlier upon the seals of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster. That they were in common use in Chaucer's time is obvious from the poet's description of the one borne by Sire Thopas, the tower and lily. Vide page 81. [169] The crest of Exmew is generally blazoned as 'a dove supporting a text =r= by a branch of laurel.' As to the letter, it is certainly an X, not an R; and the bird is quite as much like a sea-gull, or MEW, as a dove. Hence a rebus upon the name was doubtless intended =x=-MEW! The crest of Bourchier shows the manner in which the crest was affixed to the helmet. [170] Herald-painters of the present day neglect this rule, and generally paint the mantlings red, doubled or lined with white or ermine. [171] In the seal of Ela, Countess of Salisbury, who was born in 1196, two lions rampant, or rather _crawling_, are introduced to fill up the spaces _on each side of the lady's effigies_. It is engraved in Sandford's Geneal. Hist. [172] The following are the royal supporters, as given in Sandford's Genealogical History: Richard II, two angels; Henry IV, swan and antelope; Henry V, lion and antelope; Henry VI, two antelopes; Edward IV, lion and bull; Edward V, lion and hind; Richard III, two boars; Henry VII, dragon and greyhound; Henry VIII, lion and dragon; Edward VI, lion-guardant crowned and dragon; Mary, eagle and lion; Elizabeth, as Edward VI; James I, &c. lion and unicorn, as at present. [173] According to Nisbet, the earliest royal supporters of England were two angels. The transition from one angel to two, and from two angels to two quadrupeds is very natural. [174] C. S. Gilbert's Cornwall, pl. 3. [175] Ormerod's Cheshire. [176] Archæologia, vol. xxx. [177] Hone's Table Book. [178] In the above sketch I have ventured to supply the head which in the original is wanting. [179] Montagu, Guide, p. 48. [180] The coat-armour of a great family was of too sacred a character to be used as the personal ornament or distinction of their retainers, the private herald only excepted; and it was long ere this functionary was allowed to invest himself in his master's armorials. [181] Vide Chapter IX.