OF HERALDIC DEVICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18996, 18 April 1925, Page 1 (Supplement)

OF HERALDIC DEVICES.

THE SANCTION OF CENTURIES. BY MATINGA. Sir James Gunson's anxiety that his city's coat of arms should bo freed from s the charge of being without lawful means of support is shared by all having any appreciation of heraldry. Incidentally, he j has called attention to tho fact that Auckland possesses tramcars; but that is 5 really another story. Is it not told from early morn till long after dewy eve in ' their surge of noise and in tho chariot r races that enliven our highways after ■ the manner of a certain chapter in " Ben * Hur" ? It is not the fault of Sir James I that some folk forget the existence of 1 tho trams. Perhaps the thought of riding under the aegis of the Garter PrinL cipal King of Arms will encourage , some to renounce strange flames i and return to their old "" love of the trolley-pole and lifeguard. At least I a few will sagely examine the city's t, blazonry set out in the tramcars' decora- - tion. A consolation this when shut out 3 at rush hours, although no sufficient I reason for gazing over at a ratepayers' i enterprise as a mere onlooker. 1 But to come back to heraldry. 'Twould ' be a pity if our municipal badge should , be the scorn of scoffers because of flaw in its designing; and to be saved from ' that is something in these days of civic ' rivalries. Among the frescoes that adorn the dwelling of the Mother of Parliaments is one showing tho Mayflower setting out • in 1620. Its honour there is a splendid token of the Motherland's repentance of harsh dealing with her children and her unfaltering love of the runaways and hope i of their return. But critical. eyes have found in it our present Union Jack, which was not fashioned until 1801. Yet even ( worse than that inaccuracy would be a i flouting of tho sanction of centuries by a gauclierio of construction that the ; Heralds' College could not approve. Auckland hits been spared that shame, thanks be, even as a contiguous borough, bent on having its own coat of arms, was casually saved, through the alertness of an eye no councillor possessed, from the blunder of putting two kauri trees as supporters to its escutcheon. Established Principles. The pristine use of heraldry has long since passed away, yet the established principles of its devices have all their old authority. Whether it be regarded as a " noble science " or " the science of fools with long memories," its old rules cannot be broken with impunity. Still as of yore it is an offence to put metal on metal or colour on colour, and no self respecting city would want to run amok amid lions and lambs and lilies long held sacred. So long has heraldry had sway that there is a temptation to push its origin back beyond tho brave days of knightly chivalry. Joseph s coat of many colours has been given heraldic explanation, and some have embellished holy writ with a shield of six red nails for Jael (although she found one enough for Sisera), a white tent on a green ground for Jabal, a golden harp on a bluo shield for Jubal, and a silver hammer on black for Tubal Cain. This is carrying the thing too fat". Even the citing of an exact form of letters patent for King David's grant of arms to his nobles is to play history a scurvy trick. Fancy has especially fastened on' the epithets given to the children of Jacob as a proof of symbolic devices having high authority then. One old enthusiast bursts thus into verse: Judah bare gules, a lion rampant or, ZabuloTi's black ship's like to a man of war, Issachar's Ass© between her two burthens As Dan's sly Snake, lies in a field of vert. Asher with azure a Cup of gold sustains. And Nepthali's Hind trips o'er trie flowery Ephrai ill's strong Ox lies with the couchant Manasseh's Tree its branches doth impart, Benjamin's Wolfe in tho field gules resides, Kouben's field argent and blow bar wav d Elides, , . „ , , . ~ , Simeon doth beare his Sword, and in that manner , . , . Gad, having pitched his Tent, sets up his Banner. It is all very interesting, but so is Munchausen. " Nevertheless, heraldry is ancient and widespread. Enthusiasm for Meaning. Although the Bayeux tapestry bears evidence, in the rude and non-heraldic devices on the shields of its knights, that England knew nothing of it when William the Conqueror came, that long ago it came gradually into use and honour, like most Rood things, is certain. Man's innate enthusiasm for meaning, especially in symbols, that gave a significance to the abiding blue of the sky, and the red of flame and blood, and the . bleaching work of sun and air and water, was bound sooner or later to invest objects with emblematic value, and to devise rules for their employment thus. This fact lies at the root of all language, which, spoken or depicted or written, is but the clothing of sense objects with the tailored garb of thought. Woman has played her age-long part in this multiplying of current words. Is there not Scripture warrant for the statement that "the women who publish the tidings are a great host," and have not ruthless conquerors of alien peoples found their children at the knees of subject nurses, imbibing the vanquished's words with an eagerness that ensured the alien tongue's survival, though the aliens themselves died out? So it is not surprising that to one Dame Julyans or Juliana Barnes heraldry in England owes much. A Lover of Gentlefolk. She flourished in the sixteenth century, "a gentlewoman endued with excellent , giftes bothe of body and miride, who wrote certain treatisis of hauking and hunting, delighting greatly hirselfe in those exercisis and pastimis;' she also wrote a booko of the lawe of amies and knowledge apperteyning to Haroldes." That was "The Book of St. Alban's." j Its heraldic fancies took liberties with sundry ancient worthies. There was Noah, who "came a gentilman by 1 kynde, and had iij sonnys begetyn, yet 1 in theys iij sonnys gentilness and nngentilnes was fowndc." On the division of the world Noah thus spoke to Ham: ' Wyckyd 1 kaytiff. I give to thee the northe parte of ! the world to draw thyne Tiabitacyon, for < ther schal it be, where sorow and rnyschcf. ' As a churle, thou shalt live in the thirde * parto of tho worlde, which shall be calde ' Europe, that is to say, the contre of churlys.' But to Japheth he said, ' Cum 1 heder, my sonne, thou shalt have my 1 blessing dcre; I nake the a gentilman of j the west part of the world, and of Asia. 1 that is to sav, the contre of gentilnien.' 1 Of the offspring of the gentilman Japheth f came Habraham, Moyses, Aron and thi? proffetys." The geography is weak, but. f the point of view is clear. Dame Julyans' 1 pride of birth and appreciation of " gentilmen " led her to study the ens- i to ins of knights and esquires, and her book 1 is a wonderfully thorough treatise in con- c sequence. 1 In the train of those whose ways were 1 her delight come proud noblemen and ' proud corporations and proud bands of t artisan folk, prone all of them to make and honour devices that are not idle in j their shapes and colours, but full of instructive and often inspiring significance.