heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

28 THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
achievements.
Arms of George Washington.
For not only did the Union collectively adopt a shield which
Ainent'HH Arms.
Creek on the Potomac river, 1657, and which is thus
is familiar to all as
"the star-spangled
banner" (and which
is nothing else than
an adaptation of
the arms of George
Washington, descended
from John
Washington, who
to North
emigrated
America during the
time of the usurpation
of Cromwell,
and settled at Bridge
heraldically described-
Argent two bars gules, in chief three mullets of the second),
but each
separate State adopted a distinct armorial device, many of them heraldically
correct enough, but some being pictures rather than arms, and when we
remember that the very essence of an heraldic device is simplicity, utterly
outrageous.
What do you think of this for the State of Kansas r
"Five ox-teams and waggons, between a man ploughing in sinister
"foreground, and Indians hunting buffaloes in dexter middle-distance. On
"sinister, a river and double-funneled hurricane-decked steamer; behind,
" mountains in distance, the sun rising on
; sky, in half-circle, thirty-seven
" stars, all proper."
That the penchant still lingers,
is evident from the circumstance
that when some few years ago Mr. Crampton, our Minister at Washington,
sent his carriage to be repaired, he was surprised, on going to the coachmaker's
shortly afterwards, to find that arms similar to his were painted
upon every vehicle in the factory. In alarm he asked whether those were
all intended for him ? "I reckon not, sir," was the reply; "but, you see,
"when your carriage was here some of our citizens admired the pattern
" of your arms, and concluded to have them painted on their carriages too."
Heraldry, as a language, is, indeed, but the development and the
organisation of a usage, universally prevalent amongst mankind, from the
earliest period, for both individuals and communities to be distinguished
by some sign, device, or cognisance.
A man's physical power or peculiarities as a warrior, or hunter, or
the issue of some exploit in which he had been engaged, and with which
he would like to be associated, would determine what this should be ;
and
he would therefore adopt one or other of those objects, either animate or