sentations of heraldry occur nearly as frequently in late, as in early works; the complexity of the bearings in late shields counterbalancing the facilities of execution afforded by the then recent discoveries[1]." I am enabled on the same authority to add, that sometimes the shield or principal charge is left white, giving the arms an unfinished appearance, and at others the smaller and subordinate charges, such as fleurs de lys, roses, croslets, and the like, are left white, or falsely coloured: all of which may be easily accounted for by the peculiarities of glass painting; such as the difficulty of leading one piece of coloured glass into another; the labour of abrading the coloured surface of coated glass; the general facility of applying the yellow stain; and its occasional or partial failure of effect, so that charges intended to be all of one colour are sometimes of different colours. Black, or more correctly speaking an intense brown, is sometimes found substituted for purpure; and after the accession of Henry VII. arms frequently occur in white, yellow, and brown, with little or no regard to the proper tinctures. For further information as to the peculiarities of that art with a view of detecting and accounting for such inaccuracies, I must refer to the book itself.
In windows coats are sometimes seen reversed, i. e. the wife's arms on the dexter side, and the husband's on the sinister; or the second and fourth quarters where the first and third should be; or the shield may present a bend sinister instead of a bend dexter. These anomalies are not uncommon, and will often, if not always, be found to be owing to the glass having been taken in pieces and been put together again by an ignorant glazier, who has placed the inner side of it outward[2]. With these, however, must not be confounded the comparatively rare instances of the lady's arms appearing in the more honourable place in consequence of her having been a great heiress, or of higher rank than her husband. Repairs of windows have also led to the unintentional falsification of arms. The insertion of later glass can sometimes be detected only by a very experienced eye, or by an examination of the edge, where practicable, for the modern will be found cut with a diamond, and not chipped like the old.
- ↑ An Inquiry into the difference of style observable in ancient Glass Paintings, Oxford, 1847, vol. i. p. 29, where some remarkable examples of misrepresented coats are mentioned.
- ↑ The inside of a glass painting (which should always be next the spectator) is that side on which the outlines of the work are painted with brown enamel.
