had the two Angels that came unto Lot Gen. 19. And as God gave them Bodies for that time so did he give them also the Faculties answerable to such Bodies viz. to walk talk eat drink and such like These Bodies and bodily Faculties were given them to the end they might more familiarly converse and discourse with the godly to whom they were sent and the better perform the charge enjoyned them insomuch as they did unfeignedly eat and drink as Zanchius noteth whereby they did the better conceal their proper Nature until such time as they should make known unto men what they were indeed Hereupon it seemeth the Ancients of fore-past Ages have used the bearing of Angels in Coat-Armours according to those bodily shapes and habits wherein they appeared unto men as in Example After Angels Cherubims whose use in Armory is less frequent are to be handled Of these I find two Examples of several bearing the one out of Hieron Bara expressing the sole bearing of a Cherub another out of Leigh of a Cherub born upon an Ordinary to which I have thought fit to add a Coat of Name for a more manifest proof of their use in Arms as also to shew that they are born as well with Ordinaries between them as upon Ordinaries In our Division we distinguished these from Angels because by most they are taken for a distinct Order above ordinary Angels taking that Name from the fulness or abundance of Divine and Mystical Science Thus have you Examples of Cherubims born not only Sole but also upon and with Ordinaries CHAP. II. FRom things Natural that are meerly formal we come to such as are Natural and Material Those are said to be Essences Material that do consist of a Body subject to motion and alteration Natura materiata est essentia in corpore motui obnoxio subsistens A material Nature is an Essence subsisting in a Body subject to motion These are Simple Mixt. Simple are certain Orbicular or Round Bodies or bodily Essences originally consisting of an unmixed matter Of these some are Constant. Inconstant Those are said to be constant Natures which in respect of their perfection are of most lasting continuance such are the Celestial Globes and the Stars The heavenly Spheres or Globes are Ummoveable Moveable The Unmoveable is holden to be that uttermost Sphere that glistereth so gloriously as that it dazeleth the sharpest sight of man and is called Caelum Empyreum the fiery Heaven whereof we shall be better able to judge and speak when God shall bring us thither and yet our Star-gazers will take upon them to talk so confidently and particularly of those incomprehensible Bodies as if they had been there and surveyed every corner thereof This Celestial Globe according to Scribonius is the Mansion Place and Place of all the heavenly Natures wherein the Angels and other the blessed of God do with endless joy behold the presence of Almighty God face to face To this place according to the same Author were Enoch Elias and Paul rapt up before their deaths But now for more orderly progression herein forasmuch as we have occasion here offered to speak of a Sphere we will first shew what a Sphere is and so proceed to the rest A Sphere is a figure or body exactly round of all parts and void of all Angles and Corners The spherical or round form is of all other the most perfect as also the most beautiful capable and fit for motion in as much as it is void of all corners which might give impediment to moving therefore is this form most agreeable to the Heavens and Celestial Bodies which are evermore in continual and restless motion It was requisite then that the perfectest Body such as the Heavens are should receive the perfectest form which is the orbicular or round figure Figura Sphaerica saith Aristotle lib de Coelo Mundo est omnium figurarum nobilior The motion of the Heavens is the most sincere and unlaboured of all motions Movetur enim sine labore fatigatione Arist. de Coelo 2. As also it is said in Ecclesiast 16. 26. The Lord hath set his works in good order from the beginning and part of them be sundred from the other when the first made them He hath garnished his works for ever and their beginning so long as they shall endure they are not hungry nor wearied in their labours nor cease from their offices Verse 27. Again None of them hindreth another neither was any of them disobedient to his words Verse 28. He buildeth his Spheres in the Heaven and hath laid the foundations of the Globe of Elements in the Earth he calleth the waters of the Sea and poureth them out upon the open Earth the LORD is his Name Amos 9. 6. The matter whereof the Heavens are composed hath in it this natural property not to be moved violently neither yet naturally to rest As the same Author testifieth in these words Natura materiae Coeli est innatu non movere violenter non quiescere naturaliter Lib. de Coelo without intermission is the motion of the Heavens Therefore are high and noble Spirits resembled to the Celestial Bodies according to Lipsius Alti aethereique animi ut ipse aether semper gaudent motu Men of etherial or heavenly Spir its cannot be idle but are evermore in action and exercise of things commendable and vertuous being thereto moved and quickned by an honest and free disposition and affection of the will and desire of the mind Omnia enim honesta opera saith Seneca voluntas inchoat occasio perficit But vertue hardly receiveth her due merit at all seasons Nevertheless Saepe honorata est virtus etiam ubi eam fefellit exitus The circular Motion receiveth beginning in it self and hath the smoothest passage for in all other forms you shall find Angels either more or less which do give impediments to motion whereby they give occasion of some stay or rest as I have said before Therefore it behooved that the sincerest Body should be fitted with the simplest form and motion In this kind of motion of the Heavens is signified the very eternity of God wherein there is neither beginning nor ending to be found and therefore it is rightly said by the Apostle The invisible things of God are conceived and understood by his creatures as also his Everlasting Power and Divine Essence whereof his visible works are the express Characters Mercurius Trismegistus in his description of God resembleth him to a Sphere saying Deus est Sphaera qui ratione sapientiaque comprehenditur cujus centrum est ubique circumferentia verò nusquam c. God is a Sphere that is apprehended by reason whose center is every where and his circumference no where For God hath neither beginning nor ending he wants beginning because he was not made by any but was himself the Creator of all things And he is void of ending by reason that he had no beginning Nam
and sleep These are the means and instruments of sight that is to say of the eyes whereof who can attain the knowledge of the exact workmanship of them The rest of the beforementioned external instruments viz. the Nose Ears Mouth with the Roof and Palate thereof and the Tongue I do pass them over as not being of any or at the least frequent use in Armory but as they are parts of the head and therewith united and conjoyned After the head and parts thereof the heart doth challenge the chiefest place as in Example In the actions and gestures of the body of all the members thereof the hand is as I may say the most talkative For it is a usual thing with the most sort of men by the motion of the right hand to crave silence when we make any speech or protestation of our selves we do clap our hands upon our breasts when we are moved with admiration we strike our hand upon our thigh with the hand we do becken and allure unto us and therewith we do repell and put from us when we speak to other men we do extend our hands toward them The apposition of the finger to the mouth is a note of silence craved the striking of the breast with the fist is a token of sorrow and repentance the exalting and shaking of the right hand aloft is usual with military persons when they will notifie any prosperous success The hand as it is comly in sight so is it also of singular use and an Instrument of many Arts for by their help there is no invention of mans wit left unattempted and brought to perfection and therefore it is of all other members of mans body the nimblest and most universal yet is the same no longer reckoned a part of man than it can perform her function as witnesseth Aristole Metaph. Manus non semper est pars hominis nisi quando potest perficere opus suum The clapping of hands is a token of joy and applause and hath been in use not only with men of modern times when they would signifie their consent and approbation but also with those of ancient time as we may see when Iehojada the Priest caused Ioash the Son of Ahaziah to be crowned King Then he brought out the King's Son and put the Crown upon him and gave him the Testimony and they made him King and anointed him and they clapt their hands and said God save the King Anciently the cutting off hands and feet was used for a military punishment for such as had committed some capital crime meriting death So we read that Aufidius Cassius by a new and unexperimented Example did punish divers fugitive Souldiers that had abandoned their Captain by cutting off their hands and feet aâ—â—irming that such punishment was more exemplary and disciplinable than the putting of them to death by how much a long and lingering reproachful life is worse than death it self that giveth a speedy end to all lamentable and wretched calamities It hath been an ancient custome that when a Master requireth his servant to perform for him any matter of importance and would oblige him by taking of a solemn Oath to use his best care and diligence for the effectual accomplishing thereof to cause his servant to put his hand under his thigh and to take his Oath as we may see Gen. 24. 2 3. Put now thy hand under my thigh and I will make thee swear by the Lord the God of Heaven and the God of Earth that thou shalt not take a wife unto my Son of the Daughters of the Canaanites amongst whom I dwell This Ceremony shewed the Servants Obedience to his Master and the Masters power over the Servant The Earths Fountains are made to give water and the Breasts of women are made to give suck But Gentlewomen and Citizens wives are said to be troubled with a perpetual drought in their Breasts like the Gout that haunteth the rich and wealthy only By the Teats sometimes are meant the plentiful Fields wherewith men are nourished as we may read Isai. 32. 12. Men shall lament for the teats even the pleasant fields and for the fruitful vines Like as wholsome and plentiful feeding nourisheth and encreaseth milk so contrariwise thin diet sorrow and grief of mind or sickness drieth up and much wasteth the same The Prophet Isaiah shewing the untowardness of those that should learn the Word of God saith Whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand the things that he feareth Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts Isa. 28. 9. Whereby he sharply reprehendeth their backwardness in Religion and compareth them to Babes newly weaned from the Breasts In blazoning of Coat-Armour consisting of Leggs born after this manner I hold it needless to mention the bearing thereof in Pale because it is natural for a man's Legg to stand upright But if the same be born in any other sort than thus then shall you make special mention thereof CHAP. XXV IN the process of our former Tracts touching Animals as well Rational as Irrational we have been very careful to limit every several kind of Creatures with his own natural and distinct bounds forms and proprieties whereby it happeneth that such other kinds of living Creatures as are any way exorbitant from Natures general course and intendment either for qualities or essence and therefore wanted a certain place amongst the rest have been reserved for this last place And of these are divers sorts as first Amphibiâ— such as live sometimes as if they were Water-creatures at other times as if they were Land-creatures as Examples here shall shew The second sort of Nature's unnatural Creatures as I may call them are Bâ—genera such as are ingendred of two distinct kinds of Beasts against the prescript of Nature's Order Of which prodigious kinds of Beasts as some have been procreated by means of mans idle invention and others by casual accident so are there sundry sorts of Beasts no less unnaturally ingendred through careless neglect of the separating each sort of Cattel by themselves and by permitting the Beasts of distinct kinds to sort and feed together confusedly in the time of their heat Such are those that Vpton calleth Musimones ingendred of a Goat and a Ram Tityri of a Sheep and a Goat Hybrides of a wild Boar and a tame Sow Castorides Doggs ingendered by a Fox and a Bever Lyciscus of a Wolf and a Mastiff and such like These bigenerous Beasts saith Vpton may well beseem the bearing of Abbots and Abbesses who bear the Miter and the Cross which are representations of Pastoral Jurisdiction but have not the actual exercise thereof as the Mule and Leopard having the generative Instruments of the Horse and the Lion yet have not the natural use of them though in this property Abbots and Abbesses have never been very like them but for the other respect Whereupon a certain Author hath this saying Mulus Abbates
as in these Examples following The other sort of Stars that do shine after a diverse sort are those that we call Comets or Blazing Stars whose Form is commonly as in this next Escocheon is represented CHAP. IV. SO much of the first Member of the Distribution before delivered viz. of Constant Essences which are only those Celestial Creatures which being void of this corrupt mixture that is found in all Creatures Sublunary have a priviledge by Divine appointment from the mutability whereto all things under the Moon are subject Now come we to that other Member thereof namely such as are Inconstant Natures so far forth as there is use of them in Arms. Inconstant Natures are bodily Essences of small continuance by reason of their ignoble or base substance such are the four Elements viz. Fire Air Water and Earth Fire Winters treasure Water Somers pleasure But the Earth and Air none can ever spare Elements are simple Essences of small stability and the womb of all mixt things as Scriboâ—â—us noteth and according to some Authors called Elementa ab alendo of nourishing but Saint Hierom calleth Elementa quasi Elevamenta for their proportionable mixture in the composition of the Bodies Sublunar whereby they are made fit for Motion Of these Elements these Examples next following having a representation Fire in the Scriptures is often taken for a special token of Gods favour and that he is pleased with the Sacrifices that are done unâ—o him as when he answereth as it were by Fire like as we read Iudges 6. 21. Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of his staff that he held in his hand and touched the flesh and unlevened bread and there arose up Fire out of the stones and consumed the flesh and unlevened bread c. And as when Eliah contended with the Prophets of Baal touching the manifestation of the true God Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the Burnt-offerings and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench 1 Kings 18. 38. And again When Solomon had made an end of praying Fire came down from Heaven and consumed the Burnt-offerings and the Sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the House 2 Chron. 7. 1. The Chevron being as we before have said a memorial and token of Building it may seem the Heralds were not well advised to put flames of Fire so near it but it is no inforced conjecture to suppose that this Coat-Armour was first given to him who had restored some publick Edifice which Fire had consumed This next ensuing hath also a resemblance with it Fresh and sweet Waters are reckoned amongst Gods peculiar Blessings promised to the observers of his Laws and those of chiefest rank For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good Land a Land in the which are Rivers of Waters Fountains and Depths that spring out of the Valleys and Mountains Lev. 26. 7. CHAP. V. HAving shewed by particular Examples the bearing of simple Essences or at the least of such things as have a mutual participation of qualities with them I will now proceed to the handling of the next Member of the Distribution which comprehendeth Essences or Natures of mixt Kinds Such are Brute or without life Living By Brute Natures I understand all Essences whatsoever of mixt kind that are meerly void of life Such are Meteors which are unperfect kinds of mixture which by their strange Apparitions do move their Beholders to an Admiration and these are called Corpora sublimia because they are ingendred aloft in the Airy Region The matter whereof these Meteors are ingendred is a certain attracted fume drawn up on high by the Operation of the Sun and Stars This fume or smoak is Vapour Exhalation Vapour is a moist kind of fume extracted chiefly out of the Water and therefore is easily dissolved again thereinto and hence are watry Meteors Exhalation is a drier kind of fume attracted up from the Earth and apt to be inflamed and they are firy Meteors There are also other Meteors formed of a mixture of both these fumes Firy Meteors are forms consisting of hot Exhalations attracted into the Airy Region having a hot quality which at length breaketh into a fire And of these are Simple Mixt. Simple firy Meteors are of divers sorts and different forms whereof there is little use in Coat-Armour except of the falling Star which of Blazoners is termed a Mullet which is an Exhalation inflamed above in the Air and stricken back with a Cloud whereby it is forced to run downwards in such sort that to the Ignorant a Star seemeth to fall There is oftentimes found upon the Earth a certain gelly fallen from above and dispersed into divers points which of many is taken to be the substance of the Falling Star or Mullet Note that such Mullets born in Coat-Armour are now most usual of five points but anciently you shall find them born of six points And so I have seen them in divers very old Rolls in the Custody of that worthy Knight Sir Richard Saint George now Clarencieux King of Arms whose industrious travel in the careful Collection of such Antiquities and his free communicating of the same to the studious in that way merits much From Mullets of six points we will proceed to those of five This Coat with due differences is now born by divers Gentlemen in Norfolk Suffolk and elsewhere In Norfolk by Sir Edmond Bacon of Gillingham Baronet Bacon of Egner Esq and by Francis Bacon of Norwich Esq. And in Suffolk by Sir Edmond Bacon of Redgrave aforesaid Sir Henry Bacon of Lounde in Lovingland Baronet Sir Nicholas Bacon of Shrubland-hall in Codenham Knight of the Bath Thomas Bacon of Friston-hall Esq Philip Bacon of Wolverton Esq and Philip Bacon of Ipswich Esquire Though the falling Star it self is but the Emblem of the inconstancy of high Fortunes and unsure footing of ambitious Aspirers which may shine for a time but in a moment fall headlong from the Heaven of their high hopes yet the Mullet in Heraldry hath a more noble signification it being supposed to represent some Divine quality bestowed from above whereby men do shine in Vertue Learning and works of Piety like bright Stars on the Earth and these are Stellae dimissae è Coelo Stars let down from Heaven by God not Stellae dejectae thrown down as those which the Tayl of the Dragon threw down which are Apostates from God and their Religion nor yet Cadentes stellae falling Stars such as the stroke of Justice and their own Demerits casts down from the height of their Honours This Coat with the Arms of Vlster is born by Sir Denny Ashburnham of Bromham in the said County Baronet Argent a Chevron Sable between three Mullets pierced Gules is born by Iohn Davies of Vine-hall in Sussex Gent. So much of simple firy Meteors so far forth as there is use of them in Coat-Armour Now of such
their heads in such sort above the waters to refresh themselves with the cool and temperate air but especially when the waters do so rage and boyl in the depth of the seas against some tempestuous storm that they cannot endure the unwonted heat thereof All fishes being born transverse the Escocheon must in blazon be termed Naiant of the word Nato to swim for in such manner do they bear themselves in the waters when they swim Concerning both the variety and the innumerable multitude of fishes Pliny is of a pretty fantastical conceit affirming that the seeds and universal elements of the world are so sundry ways commixed one with another partly by the blowing of the winds and partly by the rowling and agitation of the sea that it may be truly said according to the vulgar opinion That whatsoever is ingendred or bred in any part of the world besides the same is to be found in the sea besides many things more in it which no where else are to be seen A fish if you will believe Farnesius is called piscis a pascendo Quia ad rem nullam nisi ad pastum natus est he is bred only to eat and to be eaten Of fishes some have hard and crusty coverings others have a softer outside and those latter are also of two sorts some having only skin and others scales Scaled fishes by their fins are both adorned greatly assisted also in their swiming but Congers Eels Lampreys and such like may seem in respect of the smalness of their fins to have received them of nature rather for ornament than for use in swiming especially because they lye most in the bottom of the waters and therefore less need their fins Of these several kinds I will briefly give some few Examples wherein I rather purpose to lay open their divers forms of bearing in Coat-Armour than meddle with their unlimitable particular kinds as in Example CHAP. XXIII THE hardiness of scaly fish whereof we have before spoken is not continuate but plated fitting for motion but there is another sort of hard covering which is continuate Of which sort some are crusted other some are shelled as Examples shall shew The claws of the forefeet of this sort of fish are called forcipata brachia Cancrorum of forceps which signifieth a pair of Tongs or Pincers or such like alluding to their quality which is to pinch and hold fast whatsoever they do seize upon Which Institution doubtless was grounded upon great reason to shew the stedfast amity and constant fidelity that ought to be between brethren and companions of one society and brotherhood For take one of these fishes and divide the shells and endeavour to sort them with I will not say hundreds but millions of other shells of fishes of the same kind and you shall never match them throughout therefore do they resemble the indissoluble friendship that ought to be in Fraternities and Societies because there can be according to Cicero Offic. 1. Nulla firma Amicitia nisi inter aequales The consideration whereof it I be not deceived moved the first Founders of this Order to sort them in the collar of this order by couples for that all others do disagree with them Secundum magis vel minus and none do concurt together with them in all points but only those that nature hath conformed and made agreeable to each other in all points CHAP. XXIV WE have long insisted in the bearings of Animals or living Creatures unreasonable distinguishing them according to their kinds sorting them into several ranks placed them under sundry heads exemplifying their manifold use and forms of bearing in Coat-Armour to the end that they might give better life and warrant to such Rules and Observations as concerning them are formerly given The last place I have here reserved to the most noble Creature and first in estimation I mean Man whom God hath indued with a reasonable Soul and for whose sake he crcated all other things subjecting them to his sovereignty that they should serve man and man should serve God Thou hast given him saith David sovereignty over all the works of thy hands and hast put all things in subjection under his feet all sheep and oxen and all beasts of the field the fowls of the air and fishes of the sea c. For God made man in his own image not only in giving him an understanding soul and an holy will but also a sovereign jurisdiction over these inferiour creatures even as Kings are the Image of God in a more peculiar manner because God hath given them sovereignty over men Neither is the beauty of the body it self lightly to be regarded whose admirable proportions and uses made Galen a heathen to acknowledge the infinite wisdome of an eternal Creator And that godly King to break out into terms of admiration saying Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book were all my members written which day by day were fashioned when as yet there was none of them Inasmuch as we are now come to treat of man the most excellent of all God's creatures and for whose sake all things else were created let us take a considerate view of the order of the Creation and we shall find many forcible motives to stir us up to the glorifying of our gracious God that hath so graciously and abundantly provided for our sustentation and maintenance before we were yet created that so we may be provoked with more circumspection and regard to meditate upon Gods admirable Omnipotency Mercy and gracious Providence and be induced more regardfully to ponder and consider the inexplicable glory of the heavens and their most beautiful ornaments the fruitfulness and riches of the earth the infinite variety of shapes colours qualities and operations of Animals and Vegetables of all which there is not the least or whatsoever we hold most contemptible but will minister unto us just cause to glorifie God's Omnipotency Mercy and Wisdome Man as touching his body hath a threefold estate viz. Esse in Creatione Non esse Morte Semper esse Resurrectione God hath created man and placed him in this world to the end he should be a diligent searcher viewer and beholder of all his works and withal that he should not be only a Spectator but also a serious and zealous Enarrator of his infinite wisdome power and mercy in that he hath most powerfully created them most wisely disposed them and most providently conserveth them in their several ranks and subordinate places and offices But when we speak of man we must not understand him to be that outward form or lineaments of body that is subjected to our visible sense but the mind of each man is the man indeed not that part of him that may be demonstrated by pointing of the finger The mind of man penetrateth and passeth through all things in a moment more swiftly than the stars more speedily than imagination yea with more