heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

66 THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
'
And he is not deceived, for we
\Vill never let him pine
In stranger towns beyond the SLM,
I. ike a jewel in the mine.
No work but this shall be begun,
We will not rest nor dream,
Till twenty thousand crowns are spun,
Du Guesclin to redeem.
Spin, spin, &c.
" The bride shall grudge the marriage morn,
And feel her joy a crime ;
The mother shall wean her eldest born
A month before its time.
No festal day shall idle be,
No hour uncounted stand ;
The grandame
in her bed shall die
With the spindle in her hand.
Spin, spin, &c."
Can we not also appreciate the adoption of such a token of feminine
magnanimity, and approve that the outline of a distaff full of flax should
be the form on which women should ever after carry their family honours.
You will like, I think, to hear in a very few words the rest of the
history of the Breton hero. He continued to fight against the English
for the next ten years, and powerfully contributed to the establishment of
a united France.
In 1370 he laid siege to the fortress of Chateau-neuf Randon, held
by the English, strongly garrisoned, and well provisioned. A day was fixed
for capitulation, should succour not arrive. In the meantime the great
warrior was smitten with a mortal disease, and died July i3th, 1380. The
Commander led out the garrison on the day appointed, and deposited the
keys of the castle on the coffin of his brave and generous foe.
His body was buried amongst the kings of France, at St. Denys.
His heart, in a leaden casket, was placed in the Church of Dinan ; and
his life is commemorated by a plaster statue, erected on the esplanade
which bears his name, in 1823.
THE sons carried their father's arms, but they bore certain marks to
distinguish the members or branches of a family from each other. Sometimes
it was a variety in the charges sometimes by adding a bordure ; (i.e.
border) round the arms ; sometimes by changing the tinctures (or colours) ;
sometimes by drawing a ribbon (i.e. a very narrow bend) across the arms ;
but, more commonly, by one of the following figures
:
For the eldest son a. label or file (i.e. fillet), interpreted by some to
represent the parchment tags of the family title-deeds, on which the seal
of the owner would be affixed; by others, that he should be a crown to
his family.
For the second son a crescent, to indicate that he is to increase, or
make a position for himself.
Fur the third son a. mullet (i.e.
a five-pointed star, or the rowel of the
spur),
to indicate that he must exert himself.
For the fourth son a. martlet (or bird without feet), to indicate that he
must expect no landed inheritance, but live by his head or his wits.
For the fifth son the annulet or ring (not a finger-ring, but a ring or