The fourth opinion is, that the practice of using armorial bearings was never reduced to any regular system till Au gustus instituted legionary marks of distinction, and caused these symbols to be engraved and painted on the shields of his soldiers.
Fifthly, It is by no means an uncommon theory, that Charlemagne was the first patron of the heraldic art, in as much as after regulating the dignities and offices of the im perial palace, and establishing the order of peers, he insti tuted certain marks of honourable distinction, by which the great personages of his court might every where be re cognised. It is true that the history of St Louis, by Join vine, speaks of armorial bearings conferred by Charle magne on the Viscounts of Conserans, of the house of Corn minges, and that the romances are full of those of Orlando, and the other heroes of that age. But it is fair to mention, that these authorities are equally conclusive respecting the coat-armour of Arthur, and the knights of the round table ; so that the claims of Charlemagne to the honour of this in stitution are somewhat dubious, even by the admission of his most strenuous admirers.
A sixth party ascribe the origin of these insignia to the wars which the Franks carried on in the East against the infidel possessors of the "Holy Land ; and derive many ar guments in support of their opinion from the ancient char ters for the foundation and endowment of monasteries.
Seventhly, The Italians are unanimous in fixing the ori gin of the art in the times of the Emperor Frederic, when their country was torn in pieces by the rival factions of the Guelphs and Gibbelines. The Germans, in the last place, are equally zealous in carrying it back to the days of Henry the Fowler ; and think they have sufficient evidence of the justice of their opinion, in the accounts which have come down to us of the ancient tournaments of Germany. The truth is, that it is by no means an easy matter accurately to ascertain the origin, or trace the progress of things which derive their authority from chance and the insensible influ ence of custom, rather than from reason and the positive in stitutions of legislators.
4. It is quite evident, that painted shields and military ensigns of some sort, are coeval with the art of war itself. Jews, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Barbarians, must all have made use of some tokens, by which the warriors of the same nation might distinguish each other in battle. But there seems to be little reason for doubting that these peo ple were familiar with the use of simple devices alone, or fanciful figures, which were not intended either to distin guish one family from another, or to mark the nobility of those who bore them. So little, indeed, is their nature
ascertained, that the same things have been taken indiffer ently for devices, for emblems, for hieroglyphics, for sym bols, and for armorial bearings, as may easily be seen in the treatises of Pierius, of Minos, of Ruscelli, of Bargagli, of Vulson de la Columbiere, and of Father Caussin, who all contrive to twist the same facts into evident testimonies of the truth of the most inconsistent theories. The dove of the Assyrians is, according to all the interpreters of the Scriptures, a figure of Semiramis. Yet this same dove is with Pierius a hieroglyphic, with Alciatus an emblem, with Bargagli a device, with Caussin a symbol, and with N. de la Colombiere a coat of arms. The error of all those who maintain the high antiquity of heraldic bearings seems to have arisen from the circumstance, that a few instances have been preserved by the poets and historians, in which these personal devices had, from some extraordinary causes, become hereditary and transmissible.
5. Aventinus, descended from Hercules, carried a hydra on his buckler ; and one of the Co•vini is mentioned by Si nus Italicus as having the raven of his ancestors for his crest. In Ovid, Egeus recognizes his son Theseus by the marks of his family on the pommel of his sword. Hypoli tus carried, in the same manner, the marks of his birth ; and the children of Jason and Hypsipilus bore as their de vice the ship of the Argonauts. See iEneid, 7.
6. In like manner, we meet with marks of dignity among the ancient writers, the "xvo-85 ezri 7TeArns afros," was the well-known cognisance of the Median and Persian kings. (Xenophon's Hellenics,1. 1.) All these authori ties spew that there were figures on the bucklers of the ancients, on the guards of their swords, on their helmets, their standards, and their cuirasses ; but they by no means prove that these figures were armorial bearings in the tech nical sense of the word. The hereditary nature of some of their bearings, merely shews the anxiety of superstitious men to trace themselves to the lineage of the gods ; as for instance Coraxes, who made his soldiers bear a thunder bolt on their shields, because he believed himself descend ed from Jupiter. The verses of the poets whom we have cited, prove nothing more than that certain warriors adorn ed their shields, and the pommels of their swords, with certain images representing the great actions of their an cestors.