194
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 B. m. MAHOH 10, 1917.
Tnedal is 1514, the year in which Francis
and Claude were married, he being then
only heir to the throne, she is described
on the obverse as " Claudia D. G. Francor.
Reg." Therefore the medal was struck at
the earliest in 1515, unless it was an antici-
pation of an impending event.
ROBERT PIERPOINT.
|R. H. J, asks What is the meaning in heraldry of a salamander in flames ? Does it refer to any military achievement of, or to some spiritual or mental faculty possessed by, the man on whom it was first conferred ?
I suppose it would be impossible to say that no grant of arms, crest, or motto indicates one of the acts or qualities sug- gested by your correspondent. But I fancy that it would be so only in very special cases. Chief amongst these, no doubt, would be those of a military nature, heraldry being military in its origin and development. I have seen it stated somewhere by a writer of some heraldic authority, though I cannot now lay my hands upon the reference, that Any general attribution of such qualities from the charges upon any particular coat of arms cannot be relied upon. And I am much inclined to come to the same conclusion myself.
But the salamander was not of this kind, .and is of so rare an occurrence in English, and apparently even in foreign, armoury that one has little opportunity of applying -any test. It forms one of that class of fabulous creatures known as " heraldic monsters." The late Dr. Woodward, indeed, in his ' Heraldry : English and Foreign ' <1896), vol. ii. p. 308, states that the salamander formed the well-known device of Francis I. of France, " in shape like a wingless dragon surrounded by and breathing forth flames " ; and occurs with frequency in the chateaux of Fontainebleau, Blois, Chambord, &c. He further says that it formed the crest of Douglas, Earl of Angus. In Boutell's ' Heraldry : Historical and Popular ' (1864), p. 69, there is an engraving of this crest a golden salamander breathing flames borne by James, Earl of Douglas, K.G., A.D. 1483 the first Scottish noble elected to the Order of the Garter from his Barter-Plate.
Again, there would appear to be two distinct forms, or types, of salamander known to heraldry : one the Douglas crest as shown by Boutell a kind of talbot - head animal, passant, breathing flames and having a long tail with forked extremities ; and the other, more like our
modern idea of a salamander, reptilian and
crawling, with its tail curved over its back
and surrounded by flames, or with flames
issuing from all parts of its body, as repre-
sented in Sloane-Evans's ' Grammar of
British Heraldry ' (1854) on Plate XVIII.,
p. 144.
I am quite at a loss to understand what actual or mental significance either of these two creatures could be intended to convey. J. S. UDAL, F.S.A/
CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED ' ROBINSON CRUSOE ' (12 S. iii. 110). I have before me an illustrated edition of this famous work, and am half inclined to think that it may be the one which MR. ANEURIN WILLIAMS has in his memory. It was published lay Messrs. Cassell, Petter & Galpin ; it bears no date, but has been known to me for over fifty years. For a book of its popular class it is certainly very well illustrated ; whether the inquirer would, if he now saw the work, consider the woodcuts " remarkably fine " is perhaps open to doubt. The pictures vary greatly in merit, but many of them are excellent.
The illustrations number over a hundred ; in some cases the names are difficult to decipher, in others none are given, or initials only. As frontispiece there is a good portrait of the author, in a splendid wig, by J. Cooper; and among the best pictures are the following : ' The Shipwreck,' by W. J. Linton ; ' Crusoe discovering Goats on the Island,' by T. Macquoid, engraved by Butterworth and Heath ; another ' Ship- wreck,' by Linton ( ? engraved by R. P. Leitch) ; ' Crusoe finding a Turtle,' by F. Wentworth ; ' Crusoe in his Bower ' and ' Crusoe discovering a Footprint in the Sand,' by G. H. T. ; and ' Crusoe finding Barley,' by W. L. Thomas.
I should add that the volume under my hand is bound, and that I know nothing of the serialparts. J. MAKEHAM.
Crouch Hill, N.
Replying to the inquiry of MR. ANEURIN WILLIAMS, I beg to say that I have a copy of the edition to which he refers, and as it bears a presentation inscription " June 14th, 1866," I gather it was published in weekly and monthly numbers, probably during 1 hat year and the year preceding. I have made a slight examination of the woodcuts, and find that as to the artists, 8 are signed A. P., 7 T. Macquoid, 6 G. H. T., 5 R. P. Leitch, 4 J. Justyne, and 2 G. F. The remainder (about 69) I am unable to identify.
