Masonry In Heraldry.

cotised , each cotise potente on the inner side ; in point of fact a pattern of cross tans or double squares—a thoroughly Masonic design . My correspondent , in thanking me for the information , expressed his gratification at finding that particular pattern , the double line of taus , running through the whole of the decoration of the church . I should surmise rather that the author of the MS , imagined for the Bishop a coat derived from this peculiar moulding than

that Henry impressed upon his foundation a personal heraldic bearing , though it is not unusual to find the special st yle of ornament peculiar to one of our great churches has some affinity to the armorial insignia of the founder . I mentioned at the outset that we must look to devices aud impresses for symbolical figures more than to coats of arms , which soon became fixed and hereditary , and always more or less , in this country , were governed by the

somewhat stiff aud formal regularity which pervades our national ideas of art . On the other hand , whether in the shape of badges , which were public insignia much akin to crests , or the private devices , on which the ingenuity of the educated classes at the revival of literature expended itself , a greater liberty of design was permitted , ancl some symbolical allusion essential . The chevron or joiners' square , the pentacle , the double triangle , clasped hands , keystones ,

and other well-known objects to lovers of the Craft will constantl y be found introduced as component parts of these pictorial conundrums , but with greater freedom of design and elegant ingenuit y in the foreign than in the British examples . The three German specimens of symbolical bearings which I now submit for inspection are far more fantastic in their desi gn and elaborate iu their composition than English heraldic taste would have sanctioned at any period , but they will serve to illustrate what I have just stated .

The first , from a MS . executed at Nuremburg in 1598 , represents , upon an escutcheon gules , a slip of three leaves , surrounded by a circle argent ; the same charge appears on the crest , a pair of wings gules . Above files a hawk , with a German inscription which I am informed would read "Swift as a falcon to good deed ; " below crawls a snail , with another German legend , translated , " Slow as a snail to disgrace . " The name Stenkel Schilling is appended . The other two are of a later dateand more florid though equallbeautiful in

execu-, y tion . The arms are alike in both .- a pair of hands giving a fraternal grip ; below them a ring , and above a five-leaved heartsease , which last figurre is repeated on each wing of the crest , a Pegasus'head and wings , partly in profile , azure aud or . ^ One of the drawings , however , exhibits supporters , a lion and a griffin ; Avhile at the top of the design ttvo angels , one with golden hair holding in his right hand a sealed parchmentthe other maskedhornedand peacock-winged

, , , , armed with a trident , support with their left hands a wreath through which rays are descending . It would , you see , be easy to give a mystic and Masonic character to these designs , even if they were not so intended ori ginally . I might , of course , prolong these references , but a regard to the discussion which I hope will ensue warns me to conclude .