heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

PREFACE.
THE following pages were not commenced with any
idea of
publication, but were originally the outcome of an ingrained
interest in History, Heraldry and Archaeology, which, in
compliance with frequent requests, found its expression in the shape
of lectures.
Having been invited to publish them,
I have endeavoured
to develop therein what I feel most strongly myself, viz., that Heraldry,
rightly appreciated, is an invaluable stimulus and guide, not merely
to the facts,
but to the motives and causes of the history of the past.
I have had no intention of composing a mere grammar of
Heraldry of which many already exist, neither a mere guide-book
to the Heraldry of the Minster, which may some day be compiled.
I have endeavoured to do full justice, according to my own
estimation thereof, to the several subjects in hand. That I have
not exhausted them, is
simply
because the materials in York Minster
are so considerable, and because there is a limit to every book.
That much more remains to be said, I
candidly admit, but
it seems presumptuous, in the last decade of human life, to make
promises for the future ;
and it must also depend upon
the favour