The tax estimated by the aid of the multiplication-table, that has just been suggested, would extend, under a special schedule possessing a high multiplying power, to any self-constituted “Establishment” or “Office,” which, powerless to “grant” Arms, undertakes--in consideration of a very trifling fee--to “find,” and either to “sketch” or to “colour” them. Exceedingly simple is the process, by means of which this undertaking is accomplished. It consists in consulting a printed Armory; and, when the desired “Arms” have been “found” in its well-stored columns, they then at once are assigned to the applicant, in conformity with the comprehensive and beautifully simple theory, that all persons having the same surname and who also live (or were born) in the same county are equally entitled to bear the same Arms. Probably it does not occur to the patrons of advertising Heraldry-dealers, that upon precisely the same principle every person who has the same “name and county” with any officer who may be “found” in the Navy or the Army List, might assert a right to whatever rank and title such an officer may enjoy by virtue of his commission. The almost universal desire to possess some kind of armorial insignia, implies a corresponding recognition of the necessity to obtain them from some Institution or Personage, supposed to be competent and authorised both to determine what they should be, and to impart a right to accept and to assume and bear them. It rests with the Heralds of the College of Arms to take the initiative in a course of action, which would direct all aspirants for heraldic distinctions, as a matter of course, to their own doors. The Heralds, who really are Heralds, and who alone are real Heralds, may rely on the support of Public Opinion. If a fictitious Heraldry is not only prevalent, but in some sense actually in the ascendant, it is not because the counterfeit is preferred to the genuine, but because it is unconsciously mistaken for it. In very many instances, indeed, a determination to obtain “Arms” is coupled with an ignorance of Heraldry so complete, as to ignore the existence of any such thing as a Heraldry that is fictitious. A popular College of Arms, without any serious difficulty, might establish its own authority with all classes of the community; and, at the same time, it would not fail to impress upon the public mind the very decided difference that exists between the heraldic and the non-heraldic acceptation of the expression--“_an escutcheon of pretence_.” Much real good would certainly result from the rude shock that would be given to many a complacent display of armorial insignia, by showing the proud blazonry to be _abated_ with the baton sinister of heraldic untruth and unwarrantable assumption. And better still it would be to show to all who possess, or who desire to possess and to bear “Arms,” that the “Pride of Heraldry” is a worthy and a noble pride, because it is the Pride of Truth and Right. CHAPTER XXII