As I began this Chapter with quotations, so with a quotation I conclude it. “There are some persons,” writes Mr. Lower, in his “Curiosities of Heraldry” (p. 292), “who cannot discriminate between the taste for pedigree” (or genealogy) “and the pride of ancestry. Now these two feelings, though they often combine in one individual, have no necessary connection with each other. Man is said to be a hunting animal. Some hunt foxes; others for fame or fortune. Others hunt in the intellectual field; some for the arcana of Nature and of mind; some for the roots of words, or the origin of things. I am fond of hunting out a pedigree.” And, gentle reader, when you have joined the chase genealogical, I promise you, so also will you be.
[CHAPTER XXI]
The College of Arms— The Lyon Office of Scotland— Grants of Arms— Tax on “Armorial Bearings,” and on “Arms Found”
“They were conspicuous for judgment, experience, learning, and elegance; they gained honour wherever they were employed.” —Noble, History of the College of Arms.
“What is your Crest and Motto?—Send name and county to ——’s Heraldic Office. For plain Sketch, 3s. 6d. In heraldic colours, 6s.” —Morning Newspapers.
I. The Heralds of England, who before had been attached to the Household either of the Sovereign or of some Personage of exalted rank, were incorporated as a Fraternity by Richard III., a Prince whose historical reputation is by no means in harmony with that early act of his reign, which has done such good service to English History—the Foundation and Establishment of the College of Arms, or, as it is commonly called, the Heralds’ College.
The Letters Patent, issued for this purpose by Richard III., bear date March the 2nd, 1483, the first year of his reign. Very important privileges and immunities, with high powers and authority, were granted to the incorporated Heralds: and the “right fair and stately house,” called “Pulteney’s Inn,” situate in the metropolitan parish of All Saints, was assigned to them as their permanent official residence. The Charter granted to the Heralds by the last Plantagenet Sovereign was confirmed by his successors.
The buildings of the College were destroyed by the great fire of 1666; but all the records and documents fortunately escaped, having been removed to Whitehall; and the edifice was subsequently rebuilt, chiefly at the cost of the Heralds themselves, where it now stands between St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Thames. There, in the College of Arms, are still carefully preserved all that the early Heralds recorded and transmitted to our times. There, not the least valuable of the contents of the College, an unique Library is in the keeping of Guardians, who understand its true uses, as they appreciate its preciousness. And there also the Headquarters of English Heraldry are as duly established, as those of the British Army are at the Horse Guards in Whitehall.
The great change that has come upon London since the Heralds rebuilt their official home, has already caused some structural alteration in the building, and has resulted in the College of Arms now appearing out of place in its original position in the City. Other changes, which follow in such rapid succession in that busy neighbourhood, render it by no means improbable that the site of their College may be required for some great “City improvement”; and so the Heralds may be constrained to establish themselves in the more congenial regions of the metropolitan “far west.” This, as I am disposed to consider, is one of those consummations that are devoutly to be desired.
The times have been in which Heraldry could not number amongst its true friends the official Heralds of the College of Arms: but, happily, a very different, and in many most important respects a thoroughly satisfactory condition of things now obtains at the College. So far as the Heralds are concerned, as a body of learned, accomplished, and courteous gentlemen, Heraldry now is admirably represented amongst us, and faithfully supported. What still is deficient in the existing constitution of the College of Arms, as a National Institution, is adaptation to existing circumstances, sentiments, and requirements. It is but a truism to assert that, as a National Institution, the College of Arms does not fill its proper position: and, to all who are familiar with the facts of the case, it is equally obvious that this is simply because the College does not vindicate its indisputable title to that position which really is its own.