"The arms of Courtenay impaled by those of the see of Exeter are in the
centre compartment. In that on the left hand is the former coat single,
supported by two swans collared and chained. Motto _Arma Petri Exon epi_.
And on the right hand it impales _Hungerford_, supported by two boars with
the Courtenay label round their necks. Motto _Arma Patris et Matris_.
"Above the centre compartment is the mitre, with the arms of the see, and
a label inscribed _Colompne ecclesie veritatis p'conie_;[2] and
here the T is thrice repeated.
"The moulding of the arch is charged with the portcullis and foliage
alternately; and on the point are the royal arms in a garter, and
supported by two greyhounds.
"The T with the bell appendant occurs on the sides of the centre coat;
also the T single and labels, and over the top of the chimney the T and P
C for _Peter Courtenay_.
"The three Sickles and the Sheaf in the angles of the three compartments
are the badges of the barons of Hungerford."
Further explanation is necessary, as well as interesting for its connexion
with two popular origins--St. Antony's fire, and St. Antony, or "Tantony's
Pig."
"The monks of the order of St. Antony wore a black habit with the letter T
of a blue colour on the breast. This may sufficiently account for the
appearance of that figure among the ornaments of Bishop Courtenay's arms.
The following extract from Stow's Survey of London may serve to explain
the appendant Bell.
"The Proctors of this hospital were to collect the benevolence of
charitable persons towards the building and supporting thereof. And among
other things observed in my youth I remember that the officers charged
with the oversight of the markets in this city did divers times take from
the market people pigs starved, or otherwise unwholesome for men's
sustenance: these they did slit in the ear. One of the Proctors of St.
Antony tied a bell about the neck, and let it feed among the dunghills,
and no man would hurt it, or take it up; but if any gave them bread, or
other feeding, such they would know, watch for, and daily follow, whining
till they had something given them; whereupon was raised a proverb, 'such
a one will follow such a one and whine as it were an Antony pig;' but if
such a pig grew to be fat, and came to good liking, as oft times they did,
then the Proctor would take him up to the use of the hospital."
"These monks, with their importunate begging were so troublesome, that if
men gave them nothing, they would presently threaten them with St.
Antony's fire, so that many simple people, out of fear or blind zeal,
every year used to bestow on them a fat pig or porker (which they
ordinarily painted on their pictures of the saint), whereby they might
procure their good will, prayers, and be secure from their menaces.
"The knights of this order (of St. Antony) wore a collar of gold, with an
hermit's girdle, to which hung a crutch and a little bell.[3] See in the
Gentleman's Magazine for the year 1750, the plate of the orders of
knighthood, where T, whether a letter or crutch, is given to the order of
St. Antony of Ethiopia.
"The saint is always represented with this appendage in Missals, and on
monuments, the T hanging from his girdle, and the bell from the neck of
the pig at his feet."
We are indebted for this subject to the _Vetusta Monumenta_ of the
Antiquarian Society.
The form of the arch will be recognised as strictly of the ecclesiastical
architectural character; and, with reference to this style, we may observe
that "the ecclesiastical residence, the dwelling of the mitred abbot with
his train of shaven devotees, or of the princely bishop and humbler priest,
naturally was designed to correspond with the consecrated edifice round
which these buildings were usually grouped; and hence the architecture of
the abbey or priory is essentially of a piece with that of the cathedral."
Reverting to the chimney-piece, it should be added that formerly both on
the continent, as well as in England, fire-places and chimneys were
decorated with architectural ornaments, as columns, entablatures, statues,
&c., like the entrance to a small temple; now they are mostly made of
marble, and more for the office of sculptural decoration than for the
orders of architecture.
[1] Polwhele's Devon. II. p. 281.
[2] The bishop's motto was, _Quod verum tutum_.
[3] Chamber's Dict v. ANTONY.
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