Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/62

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Devon Notes and Queries. 39 Notes and Qtteries^ and having corrected a serious misstatement I must now bid adieu to the subject. Arthur J. J ewers. 31. Crest of the Morices op Werrington. — What is the correct crest of the Morice family ? Have your readers seen any examples of the crest on seal-impressions, bookplates, «tc.9 etc., There are now no armorial bearings to l>e seen of the family either in the house or church (St. Martin's, Exeter), and but one tablet, to the memory of William Morice, Esq., who died 24th June, 1688 ; he was the son of Sir William Morice, Bart. Prince in his Worthies^ derives Evan Moiice, Chancellor of Exeter, 1594, father of Sir William Morice, Secretary of State to Charles II. — whom he makes a native of Carnarvonshire — from the Morices of Cleucuney, an entirely different race, and this descent is followed by Yorke in his Royal Tribes of Wales. Foster in Alumni Oxoniensis^ correctly gives Carmarthenshire as his birthplace, but as Nicholas Morice, is said by Prince to have been his informant, Glyneuni, co. Radnor, may have been the seat of the family, as the race was settled in this county for centuries, being descended from Elystan Glodrudd, Prince of Fferlys, in the ninth century, whose arms they bore (see Western Antiquary, Vol. Ill, p. 2 1 8). GuUlim's Heraldry merely gives the arms — ^^ Gules a lion rampant gardant or, is the coat armour belonging to the Morices, the chief of which is the Right Hon. Sir William Morice, of Werrington in Devonshire, Bart., (Knight), late one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and at present of His most honrable Privy Council." The MS. of the Arms of the Nobility and Gentry of Devonshire — 1689, in the possession of Dr. T. G. Skardon, gives practically the same information, but adds ** Ye crest a Falcon proper, ye Beak and Bells or. Lysons, in the Devonshire volume of Magna Britannia, gives the Crest — on a wreath, a falcon standing on a perch or. Burke's General Armory has the following: Maurice. — GiUeSy a lion ramp, reguard. or. Crest, a hawk perching upon the stump of a tru or, armed and belled gu. ; Morice (Werrington, CO. Devon, bart., extinct 1750, descended from Jevan Morice, L.L.D., Chancellor of Exeter in 1594, younger brother of <:aptain William Morys, ancestor of Morice of Betshanger, same arms, no crest given, but Collins in his Baronetage gives