The Ass--patience. Bull's head--rage. Goat--policy. Hart--skill in music. Horns of stags, &c.--fortitude. Unicorn--strength. Lion rampant--courage and generosity. Lion passant--majesty, clemency, circumspection. Bear--affection for offspring. Dog--fidelity, intelligence. Hedgehog--provident care. Grasshopper--wisdom. Serpent--subtlety. Snail--much deliberation (!) Stork--filial piety, gratitude. Eagle--a lofty spirit. Wings--celerity, protection. Owl--vigilance. Pelican--love of offspring. Swallow--industry. Cock--courage. Dolphin--charity. Crane--civility. The _wolf_, according to Upton, signifies a _wrangler in parliament_ or assembly! It does not seem to have occurred to these allegorizing worthies that the tincture of a charge may be diametrically opposed to the signification assigned to the charge itself. For example, the coat, 'Vert, a bull's head or,' by the armilogical rules cited above, would signify, as to the tinctures, pleasure and joy, while as to the charge it would mean rage and fury. Again, 'Purpure, a wolf argent' would mean "a wrangler with a peaceable disposition!!" It was my intention to have examined this Language of Arms with more minuteness, but after a little research I find the labour ill-bestowed. He who can relish such far-fetched notions may gratify himself by a perusal of the somewhat rare folio often before quoted, Sylvanus Morgan's 'Sphere of Gentry,' London, 1661; and still further by that of his supplementary 'Armilogia,' a small quarto published in 1666. These works, with many others of this and the preceding centuries, contain much useful scientific information on Heraldry, and generally evince some scholarship, but they are most unnecessarily blended with what Mr. Moule justly designates "a cabalistic jargon,"[145] that renders it a matter of utter impossibility for any person of ordinary patience to read them through. Guillim, whose work is on the whole the most readable of the number, is not altogether free from this laboured absurdity. One feature in many of the early works on Heraldry occasionally renders them exceedingly amusing, and may partly countervail the prosy dulness of armilogy--namely, the fancied attributes of visible objects generally, but of animals in particular. Absurdities in Natural History at which a child would now laugh are gravely advanced, and often supported by quotations from Pliny and other classical authors. A few specimens from Leigh and Guillim are subjoined.