ii s. i. MAY 28, mo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
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Heraldry Simplified. By W. A. Copinger, LL.D.,
F.S.A., F.R.S.A. (Sherratt & Hughes.) WE notice this volume with pleasure, and our only doubt is as to its title, which does not seem to us to explain its purpose. On the front page the book is described as ' An Easy Introduction to the Science and a Complete Body of Armory, including the Arts of Blazoning and Marshalling. with Full Directions for the making of Pedigrees and Information as to Records, &c ' It is, in fact, not a book for beginners in heraldry, but a learned book of reference, a kind of lexicon of heraldry for all students of the art.
In his preface the Author states that the book is confined to English armory proper, but we doubt whether some of the charges which are delineated in the illustrations are found in English armory.
The most interesting chapters, to our mind, are those on the " position and disposition " of charges and " blazoning " (chaps, v. and vi.), while chap. viii. on the external ornaments of heraldry is rather meagre. To appreciate fully the book it would be necessary to have read Mr. Fox-Davies' s ' Complete Guide to Heraldry ' or some other explanatory treatise.
The late Dr. Copinger gives us examples of no fewer than 300 different specimens of crosses and saltires, 60 samples of lions, and more than 30 serpents. Some of these, we think, must be either extinct or entirely absent from English heraldry.
In some cases he supplies the names of the families claiming the arms or charges delineated, but this is rare, and we venture to think that the volume would have been more interesting if he had coupled the blazon of some of the rare charges with the names of the families which claim them.
The illustrations are as good as could be expected when produced on a scheme of 42 ex- amples a page, giving the artist, Mr. W. Clat'ton, extremely little scope for his work, which s necessarily on a small scale. The book is well produced and beautifully printed, and contains an admirable glossary and index in fact, to our mind, in some cases the' glossary is more accurate than the text.
We notice that on p. 84 the azure roundle is called a ' heurtiV whereas on the following p. 85 and on p. 87 (where it is illustrated) it assumes its ordinary English heraldic name of a "hurt." We also notice that on p. 75 a " tressure " is defined as an " insulated bordure " with the flory-counter-flory decoration affixed to it. This does not seem to us an accurate definition, and we should prefer that of Mr. Eox-Davies, who defines it as an " orle gemel." The definition of the orle on this page is also unsatisfactory.
On the last page of the work Dr. Copinger justifies the interest that should be taken in heraldry, and points out that in the great peerage case of Huntingdon one of the principal links in the chain of evidence was established by the production of a very old armorial shield exhibit- ing the arms of Hastings impaled with those of Stanley, and further that, according to Bigland, three families preserved estates by virtue of the arms and escutcheons of their ancestors.
We think that all readers who are interested in
heraldry and desirous of reference both to common
and obscure charges will welcome this volume as
a valuable addition to the literature of the subject.
The Quarterly Review for April is well varied in interest. The first article, ' Society and Politics in the Nineteenth Century, tackles from the point of view of three books too large a subject to be wholly satisfactory. The books which head the notice are all memoirs or letters by women, and the second, the ' Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino, 1831-5,' in its English form is incomparably the best reading of the three, a fact which is hardly conveyed to the reader.. The Duchess was brilliant, though sne is here declared to be not bitter. " She might well? have been jealous of Princess Lieven, but she always writes of her with admiration." We rather doubt the correctness of this sentence- The next article, ' A Palace in the Syrian Desert/ is both signed and illustrated. Gertrude Low- thian Bell, the author, has already made a name by a book of Oriental travel, and she gives here a very interesting account of the Castle of Kheidar, the work, it is said, of Persian artificers. There- are admirable little touches about Oriental- servants, and incidentally we are favoured with an ode on the motor-car, " the first qasidah that has been written " on the subject. Mr. W. Lewis Jones has an illuminating article on ' Early W T elsh Poetry.' ' The Art of Henry James ' could not fail to be interesting, but it is not particularly well written, Mr. Morton Fullerton's style being to our mind, unnecessarily precious, and often cumbrous. No fewer than thirteen books form a heading for an article on ' Socialism : its Mean- ing and Origin.' Socialism is regarded as "an extreme form of a great general movement. The question of the future is whether that general movement of social reform will evolve into Socialism, or whether, on the other hand, Social- ism will be merged in social reform." A further- article on ' The Present Position and Future Prospects of Socialism ' will be of more interest to practical men than the survey before us,, for it seems clear that the Socialism of Marx and other earlier authorities is out of date, and the present difficulty is to find a consistent body of doctrine among the many variants fashionable- to-day. Dr. Stanley Lane-Poole writes, as usual, admirably on ' India in the Seventeenth Century, which means the ' Storia do Mogor ' of the Venetian Manucci.
' Greece and King George ' is sad reading. Professional politicians, official indolence, and a sovereign who has not proved equal to his position seem to be responsible for the present crisis. An article of interest to the scholar is 'Ancient and Modern Stoicism, which stretches from Marcus. Aurelius to Mr. Frederic Harrison.
MB. FROWDE has sent us some copies of the* Oxford editions of King George V. Prayer Books, containing the royal warrant for the alterations now necessary. These editions are printed in. the style which has made the Oxford University Press famous all over the world. It is needless to add that the promptitude with which the Prayer Books are issued has not spoilt in any way the details of production for which the expert looks. The various bindings are all neat and suitable and in the more elaborate copies beautifully finished. '
