But, lest I should be thought unnecessarily severe upon the armorists of the past age, I annex the arms of Sir Sidney Smith, a veteran who certainly deserved better things of his country. I shall not attempt to blazon them, as I am sure my reader would not thank me for occupying a page and a half of a chapter—already perhaps too long—with what would in this case be jargon indeed. Shades of Brooke, and Camden, and Guillim, and Dugdale! what think ye of this?
II. The second class of Historical Arms is composed of those derived from Acts of Loyalty. The earliest coat of this kind mentioned by the author of the volume before quoted, is that of Sir John Philpot, viz. ‘Sable a bend ermine,’—his paternal arms—impaling, ‘Gules a cross between four swords argent, hilts or’—an augmentation granted to Philpot for killing Wat Tyler with his sword after Walworth, the mayor, had knocked him down with his mace, in the presence of Richard II, in 1378.
Ramsay, earl of Holderness, temp. James VI, bore as an augmentation impaling his paternal arms, ‘Azure, a dexter hand holding a sword in pale, argent, hilted or, piercing a human heart proper, and supporting on the point an imperial crown of the last.’ This was granted to Sir John Ramsay, who was also rewarded with the title just mentioned, for having saved the young monarch’s life from assassination by Ruthven, earl of Gowrie, by piercing the assassin to the heart. The story of this attempt upon the ‘British Solomon’ is too well known to the reader of Scottish history to need copying in these pages. The whole narration, enshrouded in mystery, is now almost universally discredited, and the affair regarded as a pretended plot, to answer a political purpose. It is sufficient to say that Gowrie and his father, Alexander Ruthven, fell victims to it, while Ramsay was rewarded for his share in the transaction as above stated.[216] Erskine, earl of Kelly, and Sir Hugh Harris, two other individuals concerned in this plot, also received augmentations.[217]
The notorious Colonel Titus, temp. Charles II, was rewarded for his services in the restoration of the king, with an augmentation, viz. ‘quarterly with his paternal arms, Or, on a chief gules, a lion of England.’ ‘Lions of England’ were likewise assigned to the following families for their loyalty to the Stuarts: Robinson of Cranford, Moore, Lord Mayor of London, Lane of Staffordshire, &c. The crest of the last-mentioned family is ‘A demi-horse salient argent, spotted dark grey, bridled proper, sustaining with his fore feet a regal crown or;’ in allusion to the circumstance of Charles’s having been assisted in his escape, after his defeat at Worcester, by a lady of this family, whose servant the king personated by riding before her on horseback. In this guise Charles arrived safely at Bristol, and at length, after many hair-breadth escapes and a circuitous tour of the southern counties, reached Brighthelmstone, whence he set sail for the continent.
The arms granted to the family of Penderell for concealing Charles II in the oak at Boscobel, and otherwise assisting his escape, and those assigned on the same occasion to Colonel Careless (or Carlos, as it was the king’s humour afterwards to name him) were exactly alike in charges, though different in tincture.
Carlos. ‘Or, on a mount an oak-tree proper; over all a fesse gules, charged with three regal crowns proper.’
Penderell. ‘Argent, on a mount an oak-tree proper; over all a fesse sable, charged with three regal crowns proper.’[218]
III. The third class of Historical Arms are those of Alliance. I shall content myself with an example or two. The arms[219] and dexter supporter[220] of the Lyons, earls of Strathmore, evidently allude to a connexion with the royal line of Scotland, and the crest of the family is, ‘On a wreath vert and or, a lady couped below the girdle, inclosed within an arch of laurel, and holding in her right hand the royal thistle, all proper.’ Sir John Lyon, an ancestor of this house, having gained the favour of King Robert II, that monarch gave him in marriage his daughter, the lady Jane. To perpetuate so splendid and beneficial an alliance, his descendants have ever since continued to represent this princess as their crest.
The Seymours, dukes of Somerset, bore quarterly with their paternal arms, the following: ‘Or, on a pile gules, between six fleurs-de-lis azure, three lions of England,’ an augmentation originally granted by Henry VIII to Jane Seymour, his third wife. These ensigns, it will be seen, are a composition from the royal arms.
IV. The fourth are derived from Favour and Services. The antient arms of Compton, subsequently created earls of Northampton, were ‘Sable, three helmets argent.’ For services rendered to Henry VIII, William Compton, esq. received permission to place ‘a lion of England’ between the helmets.