Heraldry, Historical and Popular. By Charles Boatel, M.A. (Bent- ley.)—"
It is pleasant," says the author, "to the pedestrian public, many of them bearers of time-honoured arms, and having the reddest of red blood in their veins, to be familiar with the heraldic blazonry that appears upon the panels of aristocratic carriages." For this reason, or for some other, the present volume has reached a third edition. There is no doubt that it is sensibly written, and contains a good deal. of interesting matter. It begins with a short sketch of the rise and progress of heraldry, and then proceeds to describe the mysteries, the ordinaries, subordinaries, charges, badges, &c. There is a chapter on the "Royal Heraldry of England," another on the " Orders of Knight- hood," and an excellent account of the Royal monuments from the herald's point of view. Towards the end the author talks seriously te his brethren in the art ; the noble science, it seems, is emerging from a state of debasement, which it shared with the sister art of architecture, and is experiencing a revival of popularity. Good drawing, then, should be considered an indispensable condition ; let the lions be lions, "heraldic,- but lionish," and let there be no mistakes, as in the Nelson crest, when waves of the sea and the stern of a Spanish line-of-battle ship were, placed upon a helm. We must not close this notice without a word on the illustrations, which are nearly and thousand in number, and include many objects of historical interest. Contrasting with these is No. 724, the coat of arms granted the other day to Mr. Cowasjee Jehangier, of Bombay, which is thus blazoned,—az. within an orb of eight mullets, the sun in splendour or ; on a canton arg. the rose of England and the lotus of India in saltire ppv. ; crest on a mound vert, a low pillar, the base and capital masoned, flames of fire issuing therefrom. Mottoes, " My life is His who gave it ;" above the crest, "Burning I. shine."
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