ct of parliament for all purposes except
succession to the crown, {85} Henry VII. would probably desire by every
means in his power to suppress anything suggestive of his unsubstantial
title to the crown. It might be by his particular desire that his mother
assumed the full regal shield, on which to emblazon arms differing but
slightly from those of her son, the king.

It is not, however, my opinion that the form of shield under consideration
is anything like so ancient as some of the authors would make it. I do not
believe it comes to us either from the Amazons or the Romans.

My own opinion, in the absence of any from the great writers to guide me,
is, that we owe the use of this form of shield amongst ladies to
_hatchments_ or _funeral achievements_. During the time of mourning for
persons of rank, their coats of arms are set up in churches and over the
principal entrances of their houses. On these occasions it is well known
their arms are always placed in a large black lozenge; a form adopted as
the most proper figure for admitting the coats of arms of sixteen ancestors
to be placed round it, four on each of the sides of the square.

It was not until the reign of Richard III. that the College of Arms was
regularly incorporated; and though the science of heraldry received its
highest polish during the splendid reigns of Edward III. and Henry V., it
had yet scarcely been subjected to those rules which since the
establishment of the College have controlled it. Mark Noble, in his
_History of the College of Arms_, says that the latter reign--

"If it did not add to the wealth of the nation at large, gave rise to a
number of great families, enriched by the spoils of Azincourt, the
plunder of France, and the ransom of princes. The heraldic body was
peculiarly prized and protected by the king, who, however, was very
whimsical in the adoption of cognizances and devices."

During the greater portion of the fourteenth century, and the early part of
the fifteenth, there was a rage for jousts, tilts, and tournaments; and
almost every English nobleman had his officers of arms; dukes, marquesses,
and earls were allowed a herald and pursuivant; the lower nobility, and
even knights, might retain one of the latter. To these officers belonged
the ordering of everything relating to the solemn and magnificent funerals,
which were so general in these centuries, and which they presided over and
marshalled.

During