9. In many parts of Europe, there remain tombs of princes, lords, and gentlemen of every degree, more ancient than the year 1000 ; and yet in no one of these can the smallest trace of armorial bearings be discovered. The Most indefatigable antiquaries have explored Italy, Germa ny, Flanders, and the various provinces of France and Eng land, without the least success ; and have been obliged to confess, that neither in manuscripts, nor upon the gateways, and vaults of castles, nor upon the altars of the most ancient cathedrals, have they been able to find any thing more early than the well known arms of Varmond, Count of Vasser burg, on his tomb in the church of St Emeran at Ratisbon.
He is represented as his back upon his tomb, with a lance in his left hand, and on his right his shield without ornaments—" Coupe of argent and sable, and over all a lion, with this epitaph on the border of it : Anno MX. in die S. Lconis PP Dnus Varmundus nohilis comes de Vasscrburgh qui huic monasterm dedit Hofmarehiam in Vogterrereut hie sepultus." There is even some reason for suspecting, that this tomb has been rebuilt by the reli gious of the abbey. All the tombs of the 1"th, 8th, and 9th centuries, have simple inscriptions with the image of the deceased. The greater part of those of the 10th and 11th centuries also are without arms ; and the practice of repre senting them on tombs does not appear to have universally prevailed till the 12th century. The first Pope who can be proved to have borne arms is Boniface VIII. of the house of Cajetano, whose escutcheon is in the church of St John Lateran, and in the vaults tinder St Peter's at Rome. The bearings of all the Popes before him are now ascertained to have been the inventions of Ciaconius, Antonio Cicarcl lo, and Gian Baptista Cavalieri. Coins before the year 1200 have no arms. The seals of princes and kings before that time bear nothing more than their effigies, and those of bishops and chapters representations of the tutelary saints of their churches ; as, for instance, those of the Popes, which bear commonly on the one side the heads of St Pe ter and St Paul, and on the reverse the name of the pontiff.
10. If, before these times, the figures on bucklers had been hereditary and fixed in so many families, why happens it that the sons of so many heroes never carried the de vices of their fathers, and the glorious marks of their illus trious achievements ? Whence comes it, that when notice is taken of Helenor being introduced in the 9th Łneid with out any ensign on his shield, a sufficient answer is suppos ed to be given, by saying, that young men, who had as yet done nothing illustrious, carried shields without ornament ? Could they not then, as at present, carry their father's bear ings ? The truth is, these marks were altogether personal, or else common to all the individuals of a military corps.
And it was on account of this latter character that they received from the Greeks the appellation of Z`Eintal-ce.
It may however be alleged, (and M. Court de Gebelin has laid much stress on the circumstance,) that there are many cities, the armorial bearings of which are to be found on monuments of very high antiquity ; as, for instance, those of Rome, which we every day see represented on so many basso relievos, or those of Nismes, which are so com mon on the reverse of medals. To this it may be answer ed, that these cities have, within the last seven or eight hun dred years, framed for themselves armorial ensigns out of their ancient devices, and that, before that time, no exam ples can be found of these marks being placed on escutch eons. S. P. Q. R. was the device of the Romans ; but not, as in the present day, disposed secundum artem on a band falling down between two fillets. The crocodile attached to a palm-tree was the ensign of Egypt conquered, which the people of Nismes put anciently on their coins, with these words abridged, Col. Nein.; and, accordingly, the mo dern city blazons the same on its public edifices. We by no means assert, that no kingdoms or republics had fixed devices before the use of armorial ensigns : on the con trary, the eagle was a common device of the Romans, and composed part of their military standards ; but they had al so the dragon, the minotaur, the wolf, and the swine. The lion and the eagle have in every age been the symbols of royalty ; because the one is the chief of beasts, and the other of 11. It is necessary to be at all times on our guard against the monuments of .heraldry which are produced by our old writers as of a date prior to the 12th century. They are it) general the inventions of silly monks, who had little else to do but to gratify their own vanity, and that of their bene factors, by these harmless fictions. Much contempt, in deed, has been thrown on the whole study, by the detection of the gross absurdities which they contain, and by none more than those of the celebrated Chronicle of the Priory of Ely, long preserved in the college of the English Bene dictines at Douay. In this MS. we are presented with the history of some chiefs of King Harold's army, who, after the defeat at Hastings, defended themselves for seven years in the isle of Ely; The conqueror, however, at length pre vailed, and lodged 40 of his soldiers with the religious per sons who had afforded an asylum to these obstinate war riors. Each soldier lodged with a monk ; and the story is, that, on their departure, the brethren painted in their refec tory the arms of their warlike companions, which are ac cordingly blazoned with great exactness on the margin of the MS. But, in spite of the zeal of Mathew Paris, the style of the writing, and also of the illuminations, is such, that the authenticity of this record has long been given up.