e garments of males. Ladies
delighted to appear in the cognizances of their lords, or in their own
paternal bearings. Armourists that have amused themselves by treating
on the curious and obsolete terms of heraldry, have supposed that the
flanch and flasque represent that part of female attire which covered
the body from the lower part of the neck to the waist, and that
this part of the ladies' dress contained the heraldic bearing. Our
contracted space will not allow our indulging in fanciful research,
nor would it benefit our readers if we did so. Suffice it that we have
ample proof that heraldry formed the decoration of female attire.

Numerous instances may be found, either in stained glass, monumental
brasses, or illuminated genealogies, of female figures bearing
heraldic devices on their apparel. A married lady or widow had her
paternal arms emblazoned upon the fore part of her vest, which by
ancient writers is called the kirtle, and the arms of the husband on
the mantle, being the outer and the most costly garment, and therefore
deemed the most honourable. This is called bearing arms kirtle and
mantle.

Our frontispiece contains two figures kneeling, taken from _Dallaway's
Heraldry_. They are to be found in an illuminated pedigree of the
Weston family. The male figure is that of Sir John de Weston, of
Weston-Lizars, in Staffordshire, and Isabel his wife, whose paternal
name was Bromley. In three quarterfoils beneath the figures are
shields: the first contains the arms of Weston, sable, an eagle
displayed or, with a lable argent, fretty gules; the centre shield
is argent, fretty gules; that under the lady is her paternal arms,
quarterly per fess dancette, or and gules. The figure of the knight
is represented in chain armour, over which is a surcoat, on which his
arms are emblazoned. The vest or kirtle of the lady is formed
entirely of the colours of her arms disposed quarterly, and parted
horizontally, or fessways, by the line dancette. As both the knight
and his lady appear together, each bears their own arms; but if either
had been drawn separately, the arms of both would have appeared on one
person; if on the male, they would have been empaled baron and femme
upon the surcoat; if on the female, they would have appeared on kirtle
and mantle. This lady is drawn with a kirtle only.

In some of the later monumental brasses, the arms on female figures
are arranged differently; the arms of the baron appearing on th