or three generations the bearer of the arms established his right to
a new crest, and the heralds, to preserve the memory of the ancient
honour of the family, introduced the old crest into the coat of arms,
either as a charge upon the principal ordinary, or on an unoccupied
part of the field. This will in some measure account for the variety
of animals and parts of animals found in shields of arms. When the
sovereigns of Europe, to decrease the power of the great barons,
bestowed estates and titles not only for deeds of arms, but wisdom in
council, superior learning, and other qualities which the original
bearers of arms thought beneath their notice, the heralds were obliged
to invent new symbols in emblazoning the arms of the modern nobility;
and when arms were granted to civic and commercial corporations, and
to private individuals who had no claim to military honours, we can
easily conceive that the ingenuity of the armorists was severely
tested, and excuse the apparent confusion that prevailed in granting
arms after the War of the Roses. Sir William Dugdale, in his treatise
entitled "Ancient Usage in bearing Arms", states that, "Many errors
have been and are still committed in granting coats of arms to such
persons as have not advanced themselves by the sword, being such as
rise by their judgment or skill in arts, affairs, and trades"; with
good reason affirming that the latter should however only be allowed
"notes or marks of honour fit for their calling, and to show forth the
manner of their rising, and not be set off with those representations
which in their nature are only proper for martial men."

It would be utterly impossible to give either a graphic or written
description of all the charges in a book of this size or even in one
ten times as large. The sun, moon, stars, comets, meteors, &c.,
have been introduced to denote glory, grandeur, power, &c.; lions,
leopards, tigers, serpents, stags, have been employed to signify