The cockatrice, "a little king amongst serpents," is borne by the Bogan family, whilst one Ellis bears a mermaid, crined or, with a mirror in one hand and a comb in the other (a veritable Loreley!).
Three sea-dogs, or marine wolves, are borne by one John Fenner.
And, lastly, we find in Guillim's work the presentment of a harpy as a charge on a coat of arms—a monster with a woman's head, hair, and face, and the body, legs, and wings of a vulture, her "wings displayed and hair flottant." As to the name of the bearer of this hideous charge, the old herald is discreetly silent.
CHAPTER IX
INANIMATE OBJECTS AS CHARGES
Under this heading so many and such various objects are included that we cannot attempt to mention one half of the items in this miscellaneous collection. First come crowns, mitres, croziers (a crozier is borne by an Irish family of that name), swords, maces, etc., all of which represent estate and dignity. Then come books, billets, pens (one Cowpen bears three pens), single letters of the alphabet, notably Y and T (three T's are borne by the Tofte family), musical instruments—i.e., violin, organ-pipes, harp, etc. (the harp appears in the arms of one Harpham).
Musical instruments signified that their bearers were "men of a well-composed and tempered judgment"; whilst the Book symbolized primarily the Word of Life; the pen, the wisdom of the learned; and the single letters stood for the thoughts of absent or silent scholars.
In the Conroy arms, the field is charged with "an ancient book, open, indexed, edged or." This charge represents the honourable and hereditary office of Leanachie bard and herald to the O'Connors, Kings of Connaught. The motto under the coat of arms signifies that "history once written in this book cannot be destroyed by time." It was the privilege of the ancient bard of the tribe "to stand alone with the new-made King upon the sacred mount of Carn Fraoich and there to deliver into his hands the white wand or sceptre of royalty."
Mechanical objects follow next—ploughs, harrows (the Harrows bear three harrows), scythes, spades, cartwheels (the latter occur in the arms of Carter and Cartwright). These are all typical of husbandry, and suggest agricultural industry on the part of the original bearers. Chaucer's son-in-law, Sir Payne Roet—derived doubtless, from the French rouet, a wheel—bore three wheels on his shield, and in blazoning this coat of arms (Fig. 52), Guillim quotes Pliny's fable of the Roman farmer who was accused to the authorities of being a magician, because his fields were fruitful, whilst those of his neighbour were barren.