As a matter of fact, the distinction between the hats of archbishops and of bishops appears not to have been generally observed, as we find on the book-plates of most of the bishops that they carried four rows of tassels, that is, ten tassels on each side of their shields. Menestrier admits that the number of tassels is immaterial, but he lays stress on the colour: “Les chapeaux sont rouges pour les Cardinaux, verts pour les Archevêques et Evêques, noirs pour les Protonotaires, et autres dignitez au dessoux des Evêques.” These colours are shown in the usual heraldic manner.
Here are a few examples of clerical plates. Caumartin, a bishop, after whom they have named a street in Paris; Chabeuf, a modern bishop of Dijon; Barbier, an abbot; and J. F. Seguret, a canon of the cathedral church of Alais. The last is an old plate, and is remarkable because it contains no ecclesiastical emblems, the arms and supporters being purely heraldic. The same remarks apply to the plate of the Abbé Quarré de Monay, Canon of Autun, which is dated 1776, and is a characteristic specimen of the plate of the period. Observe the large coronet, the oval shield in a cartouche, the heavy pendent festoons, and the solid square base, all distinctive features of the style Louis XVI. (See reproduction, page 188.)
The plate of Dominique-Barnabé Turgot de Saint Clair, bishop of Seez, dated 1716, is a good example of the ecclesiastical plate of the period, in which the mundane coronet is as conspicuous as the bishop’s hat. Bishop Turgot died on December 18th, 1727, leaving a valuable library, which was sold in Paris in 1730.
The ex-libris of the library of the college of Eu, founded by the Duc de Maine in 1729, may be inserted here, as belonging to an educational establishment. It must be confessed that the plate has a very warlike appearance, for it carries the arms of the founder of the college, Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Duc de Maine, who was Captain-General of the Artillery, hence the warlike devices which surround the pedestal. Being a Bourbon, his arms were France, debruised by a baton.
The plate is an interesting example of the artistic regularity which marks the early period of Louis XV. (See next page.)
