From the union of the crowns of England and Scotland under James 1., up to the union of the kingdoms in 1707, the royal arms were somewhat differently marshaled in Scotland, Scotland being allowed in all Scottish seals, ensigns, and arms to occupy the first and fourth quarter, and England the second, while the whole were ensigned with the crown of Scotland; but the act of union of 1707 recognizes no royal ensigns but those of the United Kingdom, which are to be "such as her majesty shall think fit;" and by 39, 40 Geo. IIh c. 67, on the union with Ireland, it was enacted that the armorial bearings of the United Kingdom " shall be such as his majesty by his royal proclama tion under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom shall be pleased to appoint." The practice, which prevails to a certain extent in Scotland. of giving the precedence to the Scottish lion in the royal shield, is incorrect, though the error has been committed in several of the official seals of the kingdom.
The lion passant as the crest of England first appears on the Great Sad of Edward The supporters borne in former times by the kings of England varied much, larly during the earlier period when these appendages of the shield were invested with more of a decorative than a heraldic character, and perhaps often left to the fancy of the engraver. When the arms of any of the English sovereigns front Richard 11. to
Edward IV. are represented with supporters, the animals selected are almost ently lions, antelopes, or white harts, and occasionally their place is supplied by angels. Edward IV.'s shield is sometimes supported on one side by a black bull, and Richard III.'s in one instance—in a MS. in the British museum—on both sides by white boars. During the reigns of Henries VII. and VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, the lion, red dragon, and greyhound were the supporters most in vogue, and as the herald or engraver had it not in his power to represent all three at once, he stems to have been allowed to select any two at pleasure. James I. for the first time clearly defined the royal supporters, adopting the lion of England and unicorn of Scotland as they have ever since been borne. the unicorn having 11 11 d been, up LU 1101, GU Scotland.
the computation of a Spheri,cal triangle. under the head of STIIEROGIL1PII