noble specimen of domestic architecture, derives interest from being the work of the reputed prosecutor of Shakspeare, for which he not only took the liberty of lampooning the Lord of the Manor in a ballad, but in some scenes of his dramas has introduced much punning about the luces in the arms.

A prevailing feature of ancient architecture was the ornamented vanes on standards surmounting the pinnacles of the gables; on those at Charlecote the arms of Lucy are fancifully disposed, the three luces being interlaced, between cross crosslets, and the outer edges pierced in the form of fleurs-de-lis.

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The gilded vanes representing small banners bearing the family badge, when placed upon the chateau, were, according to French heralds, one of the distinguishing marks of nobility, and were termed banners, or panonceaux. In the arms of the family of Vieuxchastel of Brittany they are introduced and blazoned, azure, a chateau argent, girouetté d'or.

Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, in the reign of Elizabeth, married Constance the heiress of Sir Richard Kingsmill of High Clere in Hampshire; and from their second son, Sir Richard Lucy, created a Baronet by King James in 1617, descended the Lucys of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire.

In the old stained glass windows of the hall at Charlecote is a series of arms in enriched compartments,

All garlanded with carven imageries

Of fruits and flowers and bunches of knot-grass,

showing the various alliances of the Lucy family, with inscriptions beneath them.*

In the old church of Charlecote is an interesting series of monuments to the memory of different members of the family; and in the adjoining parish of Hampton Lucy, in which the church has been rebuilt, is an altar window, presented by the rector, the Rev. John Lucy, containing the principal events in the history of the apostle Peter, the patron saint of fishermen,

* A description of the windows of the hall, library, and drawing-room, is printed in the Collectanea Topographica, 1837, p. 346, from which it appears that some compartments have been made to agree in style with the older glass, under the direction of Mr. Willement.

as well as of the parish: below these subjects are the arms of the Lord of the Manor, and others of the Lucy family connected with the church, tastefully arranged from the designs of Mr. Willement.

Amongst the principal ornaments of the ancient churches were the stained glass windows contributed by wealthy and pious benefactors; the beautiful colours of the glass tempered the rays of the sun, and considerably improved the architectural effect of the structure. When the windows of churches were enlarged in their dimensions, they were able to contain richly-tinted glass, exhibiting the whole-length figures as well as the achievements of patrons and benefactors enshrined under elaborately ornamented canopies; these combinations of ancient art

"In mellow gloom the speaking frame arrayed;"

and historically traced the access of wealth and power to the church. More frequently the enrichment consisted simply of the armorial bearings with the monogram, or rebus on the name of the founder, as in a border of stained glass yet remaining in one of the windows of Kingsdown church, near Wrotham in Kent, to which the family of Lucy were benefactors, here given as a curious specimen of heraldic drawing; the ground is red and the luce or pike white.

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Arms of patronage, of feudal origin, were borne in order to show the dependence of vassals on their particular Lords, as in Cheshire, where the ancient Earls bore garbs on their shield, the vavasours of that county also bore garbs. The ancient Earls of Warwick bore a field chequy, and many gentlemen of Warwickshire retained the same. From the similarity of the arms of Brougham to that of Lucy, it is not improbable that

they were assumed in consequence of a connexion with that great baronial family. Brougham, in Westmoreland, is situated on the banks of the Lowther, a celebrated trout stream, also famous for their mortal enemy the pike. This manor was held by Lords of the same name from the earliest periods, and the Brougham family have been latterly in entire possession of the estate. There was a marriage in this family with that of Richmond, heirs of the family of Vaux, of Catterlin in Cumberland, one of the branches of the baronial house of Vaux of Gillesland; and the very first peerage conferred by King William IV. in 1830 was on their descendant, Henry Lord Brougham and Vaux, a nobleman equally distinguished by his literary and legal talents, and by his exertions as a statesman and orator: his achievement as Lord Chancellor is painted in Lincoln's Inn Hall.

The arms of William Brougham, Esq. M.P. are here given from one of the windows of the new Lady Chapel at St. Saviour's, Southwark, in stained glass by Mr. J. H. Nixon, the successful artist in the competition for the painted windows of the southern transept of Westminster Abbey church.

The restoration of the Lady Chapel, so highly creditable to all parties concerned, was commenced in 1832 as a Consistory Court for the Diocese of Winchester, and is erected in the early pointed style of architecture corresponding with the choir of the church, built in the thirteenth century. All the details of the

former building have been copied with accuracy, exhibiting a specimen of flint work almost unique in a modern structure. In the long elegant triple lancet windows, the glazing is enclosed in frame work, designed by the architect G. Gwilt, F.S.A. in accordance with existing examples of the same early period: here the aid of heraldry has been resorted to as an additional enrichment, and the arms of the principal supporters of the work have been executed in stained glass.

The same punning propensity which induced the application of the pike to the name of Lucy in England prevailed in France. The family of Luc en Vivarets bore for arms, or, a bend azure, charged with two luces argent; and the arms of the family of Fontenay de Luc, in Vendome, according to the same authority, are blazoned, azure, a luce or pike naiant argent, in chief an etoile or.⁕

The etoile is a well-known symbol of the Epiphany; and a fish was employed as a religious emblem by the first Christians. A single fish has been supposed to represent the employment of St. Peter; but the fish, evidently intended for luces, in the ornamental pavement of the Chapterhouse at Westminster may possibly allude to the early tradition that St. Peter's church was first built by King Lucius.

The ged and the pike are synonymous in North Britain, whence the Scottish family of Ged bear for arms, azure, three geds, or pikes, hauriant argent. To this play upon the name Sir Walter Scott alludes with much pleasantry in "Red Gauntlet." "The heralds," he says, "who make graven images of

* Palliot, Sciences des Armoires, p. 548.