Upon a very remarkable Seal, used by HENRY IV. a short time before his accession, the shield with helm and crest are placed between two tall Feathers, about each of which is entwined _a Garter_ charged with his favourite and significant Motto--the word SOVEREYGNE, as in No. 402. His father, Prince JOHN OF GHENT, placed _a chain_ upon the quills of his Feathers, as in the very curious boss in the cloisters at Canterbury. The uncle of HENRY IV., THOMAS, Duke of GLOUCESTER, on one of his Seals, differenced his two Feathers with _Garters_ (probably of the Order) displayed along their quills, as in No. 403. And, about A.D. 1440, JOHN BEAUFORT, K.G., Duke of SOMERSET, on his Garter-plate placed two Ostrich Feathers erect, their _quills componée argent and azure_, and fixed in golden escrolls; No. 404. In the Harleian MS. 304, f. 12, it is stated that the Ostrich Feather of silver, the pen thus componée argent and azure, “is the Duke of Somerset’s”: also that the “Feather silver, with the pen gold, is the King’s: the Ostrich Feather, pen and all silver, is the Prince’s: and the Ostrich Feather gold, the pen ermine, is the Duke of Lancaster’s.” The Shield charged with three Ostrich Feathers, No. 401, was borne by Prince JOHN OF GHENT; and it appears on the splendid Great Seal of HENRY IV., between the Shields of the Duchy of CORNWALL and the Earldom of CHESTER. HUMPHREY, Duke of GLOUCESTER, is also recorded to have borne this same Feather Shield. In the Vaulting of the ceiling over the steps leading to the Hall at Christchurch, Oxford, the Ostrich Plume Badge is carved within a Garter of the Order: and, again, the Badge is represented after the same manner, environed with the Garter, in the beautiful binding of a copy of the Bible which is reputed to have been used by CHARLES I. in his last moments. The Ostrich Feathers are repeatedly mentioned in early documents; and they are shown to have been constantly used for various decorative purposes, always evidently with an heraldic motive and feeling, by the same Royal personages who blazoned them on their Seals, and displayed them elsewhere as their armorial insignia. A well-known example of a diaper of White Ostrich Feathers on a field per pale argent and vert, is preserved in the stained glass now in the great north window of the transept of Canterbury Cathedral. CHAPTER XVI SUPPORTERS “Standing by the Shield In silence.” --IDYLLS OF THE KING.