naiant argent. William Militon, Esq. of Pengersick, his son, and Sheriff of Cornwall, died in 1565, when the estate passed to his six sisters, his coheiresses. The same arms, a chevron between three pilchards, are borne by the family of Millington of Devonshire.

Argent, a chevron gules between two roses in chief, and a pilchard naiant, are the arms of the ancient family of Roscarrock of Endellion, a port on the British Channel famed for its pilchard fishery. The annual fishery on the coast of Cornwall is of great importance, and a source of wealth to the whole county. The shoals of pilchards in the autumn are discerned many miles off by the singular appearance of a red line on the sea a mile long, and their progress has no parallel in the history of the finny tribe. They are first seen among the Scilly Islands, thirty miles from the Land's End; and the shoals, dividing there, pass up the northern and southern channels into the creeks and harbours; and swimming near the surface on the coast, till they arrive at Bude Haven on the north, and off Plymouth on the south, they, without apparent cause, plunge into deep water, and are not discovered afterwards.

The borough of Truro, incorporated by Queen Elizabeth in 1589, had formerly jurisdiction over Falmouth, a celebrated

fishing station. The seal of the corporation, rudely designed, bears a fishing vessel, and in the waves beneath two pilchards, in allusion to the peculiar produce of Cornwall.

Port Looe, at the mouth of the river of the same name, is one of the fishing stations whence both pilchards and oil are exported to various ports in the Mediterranean. The seal of the town represents a fishing vessel with three shields on its side, each charged with the arms of the family of Bodrugan, the ancient lords of the manor. A Looe token, struck in the reign of Charles II, during a scarcity of copper money, bears the type

trout.

of its chief produce, a pilchard, here familiarly termed a Looe The seal of the town of Fowey, dated 1702, bears a shield charged with a fishing vessel, the pilchard fishery being of considerable importance at this port.

THE SPRAT.

The Sprat seems only to have been assumed in heraldry in reference to a name. Argent, a chevron sable, between three sprats naiant azure, are the arms of the family of Sprat of Dorsetshire.

The Rev. Thomas Sprat, author of the History of the Royal Society, was, in the year 1684, made Bishop of Rochester.

M

His arms are sculptured on the monument, in Westminster Abbey church, erected to his memory and that of his son, the Rev. Thomas Sprat, Archdeacon of Rochester. Sable, a fess between six sprats hauriant or, are the arms of the family of Sprotton.

Sprats, small sea fish, are found in abundance on the coast of Suffolk, where they are cured at Aldborough, in almost the same manner as the herrings at Yarmouth.

In Scotland these fish are termed garvies, and are taken in the Forth throughout the whole of the year. Inch Garvie, or Sprat Island, is in the middle of the Frith, near Queen's Ferry. A garvie-fish naiant is the crest of a family of Fisher of Scotland and azure, three garvie-fish naiant in pale argent, within a border or; crest, a hand holding a garvie-fish, are the armorial ensigns of the family of Garvine of Scotland.

Or, on a bend azure, three sardines argent, are the arms of the family of Sartine of France; a name derived from the sardine, or sprat, of the Mediterranean.

Azure, a bend or, charged with three sardines sable, are the arms of the Neapolitan family of Quarracino.⁕ The sardine is the same as the anchovy, a common fish on the coasts of Spain and France.

⁕ Palliot.

VII.

The Mackerel.

The Mackerel, above all fish, exhibits the highest degree of elegance in form, and is well known by the brilliancy of its colours: the name is derived from its spotted body, macularius, and in most of the countries of Europe it is called by a term referring to its variegated appearance.

These fish are only borne in heraldry in allusion to the name. Charlton Mackerel, in Somersetshire, obtained its designation at a very early period. Gules, three mackerel hauriant argent, are the arms of Mackerell of Norwich, of which family there are monuments in the church of Saint Stephen in that city.

Benjamin Mackerell, an industrious antiquary of Norwich, printed a "History of King's Lynn, in Norfolk," in 1738, and was the author of several heraldic collections, amongst which was "Insignia Armorum," a manuscript, with drawings of the arms of all the nobility of England, &c. in 1728.⁕ Per fess azure and vert, three mackerel naiant in pale, are the arms of the family of Mackrill.

Argent, on a chevron between three mackerel gules, a rose, with a chief chequy of the first and second, are the arms of Doctor Macbride, the learned Principal of Magdalen Hall, Oxford. The three mackerel, often used as a sign in fishing towns, probably indicate a house of entertainment kept by a fisherman.

* H. Bohn's Catalogue, 1841.

The salmon at Flybridge on the Tweed, and the trout at Yewsley on the Colne, are signs which in like manner originated with brothers of the angle. These symbols are not entirely without interest to the poetical mind; Swift acknowledges that, when travelling with the Lord Treasurer Harley, they

Would gravely try to read the lines

Writ underneath the country signs.

An intelligent author, noticing the variety of signs in Germany, says that "nature, history, and imagination have alike been taxed to supply this gallery of emblems; they are adapted to every fancy and to every age: besides lions and eagles, lambs and doves, the naturalist will find birds and beasts of every unnatural colour and form."* Many old signs of inns are heraldic, and, in the association with local and historical circumstances, these manorial cognizances attain a degree of interest. It requires but little knowledge of history to descry the white swan, the ancient badge of the Clares, at the inn of Clare, and the halfmoon of the Percys at that of Petworth: the peacock of the Lords de Ros is a sign at Northampton, as well as the goat of the Russells at Woburn. A very common sign is made still more familiar by Shakspeare, as

old Nevile's crest,

The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff.

Mackerel are dispersed over the immense surface of the deep, and approach the shores in all directions, roving along the coast. At the various fishing towns of the kingdom immense shoals are collected and caught, and the mackerel season is one of great bustle and activity. As an article of food this fish must be eaten very fresh, and on that account is cried by the venders even in the public streets of the metropolis; the only remaining instance, it is believed, of the London Cries, which in the time of Queen Anne issued from

a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues, And throats of brass inspired with iron lungs ;

cries which the gallant Will Honeycomb† preferred to the sounds of larks and nightingales, with all the music of the fields and woods.