_The Serpent represented with a human Head_ (Vol. iv., p. 191.).--I send
you two instances of the serpent being represented with a human head;
the first occurs in the Arundel MS. No. 23., in this College, containing
the genealogical descent of King Edward IV., and apparently coeval with
that sovereign. The other is a beautifully executed sketch of Adam and
Eve in a MS., also in this College, of the time of Henry VII., at the
commencement of _The Genealogy of the Saxon Kings from Adam_. They are
both female heads, the latter, however, being the entire bust.
THOMAS W. KING (York Herald).
College of Arms.
In the stained glass of the east window in the Lady Chapel, Wells
Cathedral (temp. Edw. III.), the serpent, which is entwined round a
tree, and holds an apple, has not only the head but the upper half of a
human figure. On a scroll is written in uncial letters, "Si comederitis
de ligno vitæ eritis sicut Dii scientis bonis et malis;" and in a
straight line below the subject, "Arbor cum Serpente."