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THE BOOK OF PUBLIC ARMS

properly was also without a crest; and it would have been welf if these two precedents had stereotyped the absence of a crest as proper to the arms of a county. The next county to obtain a grant was Lancashire, which in the pride of its wealth went for arms, crest, and supporters. In this grant the helmet was that of an esquire, and this grant for England, and the grant to Renfrew for Scotland, have fixed and determined the rule that the proper helmet for a county is that of an esquire. I presume it would be the same for Ireland, but there is nothing in the nature of arms for a county in the kingdom of Ireland. With regard to the arms of cities and towns, for some utterly inexplicable reason the right to a knight's helmet is always conceded to any Scottish city or town when it matriculates its arms; but in England the helmet for a city or town is always that of an esquire. With regard to other corporate bodies who obtain grants of arms, the rule when a crest is granted is that the helmet shall be that of an esquire, and this rule nowadays is always strictly adhered to; but many grants in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for example, to City Livery Companies-were unquestionably emblazoned with the helmet of a peer. I should myself have been inclined to regard these as examples of the use of helmets before any rules concerning them had been devised, were it not that Sir Albert Woods, Garter King of Arms, who, whatever his artistic faults, and they were many, was meticulously accurate in these matters of detail, certifed the arms of the Goldsmiths' Company under a painting which distinctly showed the helmet of a peer. This may have been intentional, for a number of the mantlings of the arms of these City Companies are lined with ermine. Where I have known this to be the case I have noted this in the blazons. No university ever had a crest until the grant in 1905 to the University of Leeds, which was followed by a similar grant to the University of Wales. The emblazonments of these grants, I understand, do not show any helmet or mantling. I think it is a thousand pities that the tradition that no university has a crest should be broken -universities are amongst the very few grants in which the motto forms a part of the grant-but as it has been broken, one can only say that there is no reason for supposing that the helmet can be anything but that of an ordinary esquire. The only exception to these rules as to the use of helmets lies in the usage by the City of London of the helmet of a peer. This is not a usage for which there is a trace of official authority, and this point is dealt with under the arms of London.

The only cities which to my knowledge have ever used a fur cap over the shield of arms are London, Dublin, York, and Norwich. Of York I can say nothing beyond the fact that in many representations of the arms I have seen the fur cap. The arms of Norwich are seldom represented without it, and in Norwich the fur cap, which in this case is black, was formerly worn by the Mayor himself. In London the fur cap is actually worn by the sword-bearer, and there is nothing to show that it was ever worn by the Mayor; in fact, the evidence is to the contrary. The earliest instance in which it is found is a case about the year 1677, where it figures, not over the shield, but in a background of miscellaneous municipal insignia. I believe it is there intended to indicate the cap of the London apprentice, and I am strongly of opinion,

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