Of the Helmet.
36. This ornament in heraldic representations has many varieties of matter, form, and situation.
In Germany, by an imperial edict, helmets of gold be long to sovereign princes, of silver to the high nobility, and of steel to gentlemen.
The French heralds have settled every thing respecting helmets according to these rules.
The helmets of emperors and kings are all of gold da masked fronting, (tarre de front,) open without bars or vizor.
Dukes, marquisses, and counts, have silver helmets, da masked with gold, fronting with nines, grille et raise de front.
Viscounts, barons, and knights, have silver helmets, with gold edges in profile, with seven bars.
Esquires have helmets in profile, with five bars in the guard vizor.
Gentlemen of three descents, a helmet in profile, with three bars.
The English and Scots have their helmets somewhat dif ferent.
A gentleman, or esquire, has his in profile close. A knight has a full-faced steel helmet open.
Earls, viscounts, and barons, have profile steel helmets, with gold bars, &c.
Dukes and marquisses have the full-faced helmet of steel, with live bars of gold.
The king, and princes of the bl nod-royal, have the full faced helmet, with six bars, all of gold clamasked.
Of the Ornaments of the Helmet.
37. The MANTLING, LAMBHEqUIN, IIELM-DECKEN, of LET, is probably a representation of the hood or intended for protecting the helmet in rain, &c. and its rag ged form derived from the cuts which that integument must have sustained in battle. (See Plate CCXCI1I. Fig. II) These ornaments are called hachements, from the Ita lian azziniare, (caput ornare.) or ingemmare. In the patois of Picardy, achemer one epousee, is still used for to arrange the bride's head dress. The Lambrequin seems, in old times, to have been ornamented with the hearings of the wearer, for King Rene speaks of it as " artroye des acmes de celui qui le porters ;" even at present it is generally of the tincture of the field, in foreign heraldry. Behind the shield itself hangs the ntanteau, mantle, or cloak, in Latin chlomys. In this country the mantles of gentlemen and knights are red without and white within. Those of the
nobles red, doubled up with rows of ermine, according to their degrees. The king's mantle is of gold, lined with ermine.
Of the Wreath, &c.
38. Menestrier, speaking of this ornament, says, " that some hundred years ago the French nobility used garlands of twisted silk, with which they kept fast on their heads their hoods or capes, as may be seen in the pictures of the old Dukes of Burgundy," &c. These wreaths were com monly of the colours of the lady* of the bearer. The wreath is now always of the colour of the shield. See Plate CCXCIII. Fig. 12.
Of the Crest or Cinder. (See Fig. 13.) 39. This ornament of the helmet seems to have been very early in use among the Greeks or Romans. After its introduction among the moderns, the use of it was long re stricted to sovereign princes and military commanders. But in imitation of King Edward III. (the first English prince who wore a crest,) the knights of the garter, and af terwards, by degrees, all the bearers of coat armour adopt ed crests. The crest is first seen on a seal of Philip Earl of Flanders in the year 1101.f Though crests are hereditary, yet a greater latitude is allowed respecting them than any of the essential parts of armoury. They are looked upon somewhat in the nature of devices, and accordingly are varied by the caprice or in dividuals, so that the sons of the same family often wear different crests.
Of the Motto, Cry of War, and Device.
40. The Motto is a short sentence placed in a scroll above the crest, very often allusive to it, or to some part of the bearings. If it alludes to the crest, the two together form what is called a complete device ; as in the case of Stewart, Earl of Galloway ; the crest a pelican v ulnered feed ing her young ; the motto " virescit vulnere virtus." Kirk patrick of Closeburn has for crest a hand grasping a dag ger ; motto, " I'll make sicker," alluding to the remarka hie feat of his ancestor, who slew the Red Cummin in the days of Bruce and Mho). Often they have no such rela tion, and merely express some predominant passion or pie ty, love, or war, of the first who assumed them.