heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

INTRODUCTION. 57
brown in summer, is white in winter, and its tail always black. Ermine is
indeed generally worn as it is depicted in Heraldry, white, with the black
tail on each skin. The other a delicate white and grey fur, called vair in
French ;
and there seems to have been two sorts, the great and the little,
or the gros-vair and the menu-vair, or miniver as it was corrupted into
English.
We have all been acquainted from childhood with the story of Cinderella
and her glass slipper, and often thought, perhaps, what a strange and
uncomfortable covering
it must have been for her foot. The fact is that
the Cenerentola is an ancient tradition of Pisa, where the old witch clad
Cults. Sable. Azure.
Vert.
Pttrfwe.
the neglected damsel of Tuscany in rich apparel, with slippers
of cloth of
gold. But it was adopted by the people of Brittany, having probably
penetrated there through the songs of minstrels ;
and the courtly Frenchmen
arrayed the heroine in slippers of fur menu-vair the most delicate
and honourable covering for her feet ;
but the legend being transcribed,
vair became verre, i.e. glass. Vair is always depicted by alternate
escutcheons of blue and white, which at a distance
would give a silverygrey
appearance.
In these days, when fur is seldom worn and only those kinds which
are, or which profess to be, brought from other countries are valued it is