Where arms are carved on stone or wood, and were coloured, the smaller details may be wanting, because they were executed in colour only: and in some cases the work may have been recoloured incorrectly, and borders or other differences omitted. In such as are carved there is often a want of true proportions, forms, or positions of the ordinaries or other charges.
The heraldry on tiles is little to be trusted. It is generally rude and imperfect, and sometimes grotesque, in consequence of the process of the manufacture being ill adapted for correct representation. What are meant for mere outlines often appear like borders or cotices. The forms of the charges too were liable to be distorted by accidental pressure while the clay was soft, and afterwards by the irregular shrinking and warping of it in the kiln.
Next to those on vellum or parchment, probably arms painted on stone or wood, when we can be satisfied that they have never been retouched, are the best authorities, as the artist had fewer difficulties to overcome; but it must be borne in mind that some of the colours were liable to change, particularly the Vermillion to become almost black; and where there has been gilding, a brown ground will often be found in its stead.
Some instances of inexplicable heraldry have arisen from the ignorance of those by whom repairs and restorations (as they were supposed to be) have been effected. These probably are not always of modern date; and after the lapse of a century or two are not easily detected. Strange anomalies may thus occur. For example, on a recent occasion, where some repairs of a church were in progress with the best intentions, a man was in imminent danger of being represented as having married his grandmother, in consequence of his broken shield being replaced by a copy of the arms on his grandfather's monument; which was thought a very cautious mode of proceeding, as they were assumed to be unquestionably the family coat; but fortunately the intervention of a herald, who accidentally visited the church, saved the reputation of the deceased.
As often as heraldic remains are unaccompanied by an inscription fixing the date of them, in addition to minute attention to the forms of the shield and charges, nothing should be omitted to be noticed by which the date may be ascer-
