The Town: Its Memorable Characters and EventsHunt, Leigh
History
The Town: Its Memorable Characters and Events
Hunt, Leigh
London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- History
The passenger, if he is a reader conversant with old times, thinks of
bannered halls, of processions of chivalry, and of the fields of
Cressy and Poictiers, with their vizored knights, distinguished by
their coats and crests; for a coat of arms is nothing but a
representation of the knight himself, from whom the bearer is
descended. The shield supposes his body; there is the helmet for his
head, with the crest upon it; the flourish is his mantle; and he
stands upon the ground of his motto, or moral pretension. The
supporters, if he is noble, or of a particular class of knighthood,
are thought to be the pages that waited upon him, designated by the
fantastic dresses of bear, lion, &c., which they sometimes wore.
Heraldry is full of colour and imagery, and attracts the fancy like a
"book of pictures." The Kings at Arms are romantic personages, really
crowned, and have as mystic appellations as the kings of an old
tale--Garter, Clarencieux, and Norroy. Norroy is King of the North,
and Clarencieux (a title of Norman origin) of the South. The heralds,
Lancaster, Somerset, &c., have simpler names, indicative of the
counties over which they preside; but are only less gorgeously dressed
than the kings, in emblazonment and satin; and then there are the four
pursuivants, Rouge Croix, Rouge Dragon, Portcullis, and Blue Mantle,
with hues as lively, and appellations as quaint, as the attendants on
a fairy court. For gorgeousness of attire, mysteriousness of origin,
and in fact for similarity of origin (a knave being a squire), a knave
of cards is not unlike a herald. A story is told of an Irish King at
Arms,[59] who, waiting upon the Bishop of Killaloe to summon him to
Parliament, and being dressed, as the ceremony required, in his
heraldic attire, so mystified the bishop's servant with his
appearance, that not knowing what to make of it, and carrying off but
a confused notion of his title, he announced him thus: "My lord, here
is the King of Trumps."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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