(Vol. viii., p. 563.)
Your correspondent who desires the blazon of the arms of the "town of
Geneva," had better have specified to which of the two bearings assigned
to that name he refers.
One of these, which I saw on the official seal affixed to the passport
of a friend of mine lately returned from that place, is an instance of
the obsolete practice of _dimidiation_; and is the more singular,
because only the dexter one of the shields thus impaled undergoes
curtailment.
The correct blazon, I believe, would be: Or, an eagle double-headed,
displayed sable, dimidiated, and impaling gu. a key in pale argent, the
wards in chief, and turned to the sinister; the shield surmounted with a
marquis' coronet.
The blazon of the sinister half I owe to Edmondson, who seems, however,
not at all to have understood the dexter, and gives a clumsy description
of it little worth transcribing. He, and the _Dictionnaire de Blazon_,
assign these arms to the Republic of Geneva.
The other bearing would, in English, be blazoned, Checquy of nine
pieces, or and azure: and in French, _Cinq points d'or, équipollés à
quatre d'azur_. This is assigned by Nisbett to the _Seigneurie_ of
Geneva, and is quartered by the King of Sardinia in token of the claims
over the Genevese town and territory, which, as Duke of Savoy, he has
never resigned.
With regard to the former shield, I may just remark, that the dimidiated
coat is merely that of the German empire. How or why Geneva obtained it,
I should be very glad to be informed; since it appears to appertain to
the present independent Republic, and not to the former seignorial
territory.
Let me also add, that the plate in the _Dictionnaire_ gives the field of
this half as argent. Mr. Willement, in his _Regal Heraldry_, under the
arms of Richard II.'s consort, also thus describes and represents the
imperial field; and Nisbett alludes to it as such in one place, though
in his formal blazon he gives it as _or_.
Nothing, in an heraldic point of view, would be more interesting than a
"Regal Heraldry of Europe," with a commentary explaining the historical
origin and combinations of the various bearings. Should this small
contribution towards such a compilation tend to call the attention of
any able antiquary to the general subject, or to elicit information upon
this particular question, the writer who now offers so insignificant an
item would feel peculiarly gratified.